Forbes Family Group

We closed the Forterro Financial Year 2023 at the end of December, showing another 12 months of strong performance momentum as we unify our company – while continuing to drive cloud adoption across our growing product portfolio.    Cloud transformation Recurring revenue mix was just ahead of plan at the close, resulting in 16% year-on-year organic growth. That on the back of Cloud and Subscription revenues increasing 35% against 2022, fuelled by both strong new-logo sales and customers moving from on-premise to Cloud across several Forterro product lines. This momentum entering 2024 is extremely positive, and we expect the growth trend to accelerate further – especially as our Forterro Cloud Suite proposition (our unified Cloud Platform) takes shape in the second half of the year. And while accelerated shifts to recurring revenue can sometimes compress ‘in-year’ performance, we still grew our overall top-line revenue at just over 9%.   Go-to-market momentum The overall sales picture was solid during the period, showing strong double-digit growth vs 2022. There were good results and some excellent wins for new system sales, with deals in our existing base significantly exceeding plan – excellent signals that our customers continue to expand their use of Forterro’s software and extend the services they leverage to maximise ROI. In line with this trend, customer retention remained high at 95%, with insolvency among our smallest cohort of customers being the underlying cause of churn. We look forward to 2024, when we expect to recognise the full benefit of our newly acquired businesses, Proffix of Switzerland and abas BS of France, two high-performing teams that will make Forterro even stronger.   Operational efficiency The company performed well against EBITDA and profitability goals, delivering 99% of our EBITDA plan and growing profits 11% year-over-year. We’re especially proud of these achievements given the challenging economic climate, as well as our accelerated transition to Cloud which can sometimes have adverse effects on profitability as the model shifts. So far, we have successfully managed our cloud transition while still growing EBITDA on both a net and percentage basis.   People-first values Concluding with our most important metric of all, employee retention was ahead of plan and ahead of market trends for the IT sector in Europe. But while we’re pleased with the progress, we also continue to invest heavily in unifying Forterro from its original federated group structure into one company. Doing so with a relentless focus on employee development and retention – recognising employees as the number-one stakeholder for whom we strive to deliver value. It was a good 12 months, but we want 2024 to be even better again. Our Forterro team is one to be proud of, and our employees are and always will be our top priority.   

At the end of October I was placed at number 2, for the second year running, on the JP Morgan-sponsored Powerful Media Powerlist 100; a list which recognises the UK’s most powerful and influential people of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage here in the UK. I am deeply honoured by this amazing recognition. The list was topped this year by my good friend Edward Enniful, editor in chief of Vogue magazine, and was last year topped by Dame Sharon White, chairman of John Lewis. I am not ignorant that now, more than ever, the world needs more cohesion, humanity and unity than ever and I pray for that reality. With this context, celebrating a list which concentrates on a specific group in society may be a sensitive topic for some. Those that know me will know that I have tried to stand for the collective over the individual and I’m a passionate believer that a society where everyone is seen is better than a society in which only some are. That being said, we are a long way from such a society and those who find themselves in the minority often find it harder to see the reference points that resonate and those that they can aim for. Statistically, in the UK, there are simply fewer such reference points from the group that the Powerlist celebrates, and that is before you get to the structural challenges that exist which can make our progress often that bit harder. I’ve learned in the last few years how my journey, learnings, progress and sometimes my achievements have provided aforementioned reference points for those earlier in their voyage. I’ve valued the countless conversations where something I have said, experienced or shared has been helpful to someone like me, from somewhere like where I am from. I’ve found great purpose in trying to find new and better ways to be that for more people, whilst still relentlessly pursuing my own goals with Forterro and my other professional interests. This for me is what social mobility looks like; a continuous virtuous circle. Thank you to the Powerlist and JP Morgan for seeing and recognising that endeavour and thank you to everyone who has reached out and shared how my acknowedgement has impacted them and their stories. I’d like to thank the excellent team at Forterro, including our brilliant investors Partners Group. It is such a privilege to lead this amazing tech company. I’d like to thank the team at Corten Capital for their continued collaboration including their help on our Cap Table pitch competition and id of course like to thank the team at Forbes Family Group for their endless work which has made such a difference to the 1770 young people we have engaged, with help along the way from our partners Cornerstone VC and our new collaboration with Barclays. I want to be held to account to continue on this journey and in the next year plan to do even better than the last. Thank you and here’s to more equity (pun intended!) for all