essensys PLC - Full Year Results

6 January 2026

essensys plc

("essensys", the "Company" or the "Group")

Full year results

essensys plc (AIM:ESYS), the leading global provider of software and technology to the flexible workspace industry, announces its audited results for the twelve months ended 31 July 2025 ("FY25"). All information relates to this period, unless otherwise specified. 

Financial summary:

Operational highlights - significant progress and strategic execution

Financial highlights - return to EBITDA profitability and improved margin quality

Current Trading and Outlook

Possible Offer

 James Lowery, Chief Executive Officer of essensys, said: "FY25 marked a year of significant operational progress for essensys, underpinned by the successful launch of elumo, the execution of substantial cost-saving initiatives and the restructuring of the business as announced in November to support our two core products with a sharpened focus on strategic customers. This progress aided essensys in its return to EBITDA profitability, despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges, delivering £1.3m in Adjusted EBITDA for the year.

"While revenue reduced year on year, due to the downsizing of a customer, it also reflects a deliberate evolution of our customer portfolio and revenue mix, with a greater emphasis on scalable, higher-quality software revenues. This shift drove an improvement in gross margins and strengthens the long-term sustainability of the business. We continue to see strong structural tailwinds in flexible workspace, supported by a clear flight to quality.

"While we expect volatile macro-economic trading conditions to continue in the short term, we remain confident in our strategy, product suite and long-term growth opportunities, and that we are well positioned to benefit as market conditions improve."

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About essensys plc 

essensys is the leading provider of software and technology to landlords and flexible workspace operators. Founded in 2006 and listed on the AIM market since 2019, essensys' mission is to power the world's largest community of flexible, technology-driven spaces. Under new leadership, the Company has simplified its go-to-market strategy around two core offerings: essensys Platform and elumo.  

essensys Platform is a SaaS platform that delivers enterprise-grade Wi-Fi seamlessly across portfolios of multi-tenant workspaces, while providing data insights to optimise performance. The Group's latest offering, elumo, provides customers with a new way to manage and monetise bookable spaces. The integrated bookings and access solution transforms meeting rooms and shared spaces from operational headaches into revenue-generating assets.

With customers in the UK, Europe, North America and APAC, essensys is deploying a newly launched and simplified go-to-market strategy, positioning the business long-term growth in the flexible workspace and commercial real estate market.

Chairman's statement

FY25 has been a year of transition for essensys, marked by meaningful progress towards long-term, sustainable growth in the flexible and hybrid workspace sector. A key priority was returning the Group to profitability, achieved with Adjusted EBITDA of £1.3m (FY24: £0.9m loss). This represents an important milestone, demonstrating the effectiveness of our actions to better align costs with earnings, and focus on high-quality recurring revenues.

Group revenue was £19.2m, reflecting the deliberate move away from lower non-recurring hardware and network sales and the down-sizing of a single customer. While this has reduced reported revenues in the short term, we believe our renewed focus on strategic customers will enhance the quality and resilience of our customer base, strengthening the business for future growth.

Operational discipline has been another focus. The completion of the data centre decommissioning project in July 2025 delivered £1.5m of annualised cost savings, streamlining our infrastructure and strengthening financial performance. These actions, alongside tighter cost control, have simplified operations and improved our ability to scale. In addition, we have restructured the essensys team to better support our product and services offering post year end, and these changes are also expected to generate significant annualised cost savings.

Innovation continues to sit at the heart of our strategy, with over 25% of our team dedicated to R&D. This year we launched elumo, our new dynamic meeting room bookings and access platform, enabling our customers to quickly monetise their assets. Though slower than anticipated, the product has gained early traction across key markets, securing its first sales to customers post year end, including a multi-site portfolio in the US. While the macro trading environment remains volatile, this positive response reinforces our confidence in elumo as a significant future growth driver.

FY25 also saw important changes to the Board to support our next phase of development. Greg Price joined as CFO in October 2024, bringing over two decades of senior finance experience. In May 2025, James Lowery succeeded founder Mark Furness as CEO, having previously served as COO. James brings a strong background in scaling flexible workspace propositions and real estate strategy. The Board also welcomed Sian Herbert as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair in July 2025, adding significant expertise in audit, risk, and governance. Mark Furness remains on the Board as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director and continues as our largest shareholder.

In summary, FY25 has been an important year towards reshaping essensys for long-term success. With simplified operations, a sharper customer focus, and the launch of new products, we have returned to profitability, enhanced our SaaS-centric model, and built a stronger foundation for scalable long-term growth. The Group remains debt free and to strengthen the Group's financial resilience, we are exploring debt facility options with potential banking partners. While the current macroeconomic environment continues to influence customer decision-making, our new structure will enable increased focus on our long-term priorities, which remain expanding recurring revenues, improving margins, and generating cash.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank our team for their resilience and shareholders for their continued support.

Jon Lee

Non-Executive Chairman

5 January 2026

Chief Executive Officer's Report

FY25 has been a year of significant operational progress for essensys, during which the Group has achieved a number of important milestones supporting its evolution. Focus has centred on the launch of elumo, the successful execution of cost-saving initiatives, sustained customer engagement, and most recently, the restructuring of the business to better support its two core products, elumo and essensys Platform.

Financial Performance

Despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges, the Group achieved its stated goal of returning to Adjusted EBITDA profitability, reporting £1.3m for the year. This underscores the effectiveness of cost management initiatives, simplification of operations, and a sharpened focus on strategic customers.

While revenue was broadly in line with market expectations, it was lower than FY24 at £19.2m, reflecting the anticipated downsizing of a single large strategic customer. Importantly, these results represent an evolution in the Group's revenue mix: although earnings are lower in the short term, they are of higher quality, with a greater proportion driven by software revenues. This shift contributed to an improvement in gross margins to 59% (FY24: 57%).

Cash at year end was £1.8m (FY24: £3.1m). To further strengthen the Group's financial resilience and support its long-term growth ambitions, essensys is in active discussions to secure a debt facility. This process is designed to optimise the Group's capital structure and ensure its ability to pursue key growth opportunities. The Group remains debt free.

The Evolving Market Landscape

The real estate sector has faced significant volatility in recent years, but the past 12 months have seen a notable shift in activity. Data shows that 48% of UK businesses expect a full return to in-person working within the next year, a trend mirrored internationally¹ and at the same time, the flexible workspace sector is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 18% between 2025 and 2032². Coupled with the ongoing "flight to quality" in office space, these dynamics create strong tailwinds for the Group across its core markets in the UK, US and Australia.

While forecasts in the real estate sector continue to signal underlying strength, macroeconomic instability across global markets is creating a more cautious operating environment for essensys' customers. Inflation, interest rate uncertainty, and wider geopolitical factors are affecting confidence and investment planning, particularly in sectors sensitive to capital allocation and long-term commitments. Against this backdrop, the Group has seen some portfolio rationalisation as customers focus on their more profitable sites, reflecting the bifurcation in the market. The Group is mindful of the potential for extended sales cycles and a temporary moderation in sales activity as customers adopt a more cautious approach to capital expenditure, particularly for elumo.

Customers and Go to Market

Strategic customers continue to be a key priority for essensys, supported by new product launches and a more flexible way of deploying connectivity.

As reported in the Group's Trading Update in November 2025, one of its customers will not be renewing its essensys Platform contract, which represents total annual recurring revenues of £0.9m. The current contract concluded at the end of December 2025 and is already factored into management forecasts and overall customer churn remains broadly in line with management expectations.

essensys' growth strategy remains focused around three key pillars: Land, Expand and Grow. New customer adoption is driven by two scalable entry points, essensys Platform and the newly launched elumo, both of which provide operators with digitally-enabled, flexible workspace solutions that help to improve customer experience and support revenue generation. Expansion will come from combining product innovation with site growth across core geographies, while long-term growth will be achieved by deepening customer relationships and positioning essensys as a strategic partner offering a suite of products that underpin operational success.

elumo is an important driver of scalability within the Group's business model. Since launch, it has secured initial sales across all of the Group's key markets, the UK, US and Australia, most notably a portfolio deal with an existing US customer spanning 20 sites. While macroeconomic conditions have resulted in elongated sales cycles and slower-than-anticipated adoption, the Group continues to expect strong medium-term demand.

To strengthen new customer acquisition, reduce customer churn and recognise the different maturity levels of the Group's two core products, management has restructured the business around their specific needs. A dedicated, agile team has been formed to prioritise new business generation and accelerate the adoption of elumo. In parallel, a focused essensys Platform team is responsible for enhancing customer relationships, improving service delivery, and proactively managing retention.

Product Development

By maintaining its focus on product development, the Group continues its mission to help operational landlords and flexible workspace providers manage the complexity of operating large multi-tenant portfolios. In the second half of FY25, elumo was launched, providing a unique solution to transform how bookable spaces are managed and monetised. It enables customers to unlock and maximise revenue from under-utilised rooms while improving the user experience and providing real-time utilisation and booking intelligence.

Benefits for operators:

·      Shared spaces are transformed into revenue-generating assets.

·      Instant, rule-based access ensures that only authorised users can enter their digital environment.

·      Real-time intelligence on utilisation and bookings enables every square foot of space to be optimised.

·      Charges are seamlessly passed into the customer's invoicing platform of choice for onward billing to tenants.

elumo's intelligent IoT gateway also enables the collection of real-time sensor data, providing the potential for the platform to evolve further, unlocking additional opportunities to enhance how users interact with customer spaces.

As previously stated, the Group has adapted the deployment of its network services (essensys Cloud), providing customers with the ability to deploy essensys Platform over existing connectivity and existing enterprise grade hardware. This reduces barriers to adoption for essensys Platform customers and aligns with market demand for pure-play SaaS solutions that address the operational needs of multi-tenant real estate.

Taken together, the progress achieved over the past year reflects a stronger revenue mix, a streamlined operating model with a reduced cost base, and an ongoing focus on strategic customers, leaving the Group well positioned for sustainable growth in the medium and long term.

Cost savings

A key milestone in the year was the completion of the data centre decommissioning project, closing 10 data centres globally and delivering annualised cost savings of £1.5m. This marks an important step in the transition to a SaaS-first model and supports the Group in cash flow generation and improved margins.

The post year end restructure around the Group's core products is expected to generate additional annualised cost savings, further protect cash flow, and support scalable operations.

Current Trading and Outlook

Revenue for the first quarter of FY26 amounted to £4.1m, which was broadly in line with management expectations, and primarily driven by essensys Platform. While customer interest in the Group's new product, elumo, remains strong, the current macroeconomic environment has led to elongated sales cycles and slower than anticipated adoption rates, which is expected to impact FY26 sales. The Company does however continue to expect good adoption over the medium term. essensys continues to see a clear "flight to quality" in the flexible workspace market, as occupiers favour premium, well-specified spaces. This reinforces the Group's strategic focus and positions the Company well for evolving market preferences.

As noted above, recognising the distinct characteristics and different maturity levels of the Group's two core products, management has restructured the business around the specific needs of each. A focused agile team has been established to drive the sales and adoption of elumo, whilst a dedicated essensys Platform team will deliver an improved customer experience.

As a result of the above, management anticipates FY26 results to be materially below their expectations. However, the Group remains committed to its strategic objectives, supported by a focused go-to-market strategy and an enhanced product suite aligned with customer needs.

essensys continues to monitor the volatile macroeconomic dynamics closely and is focused on maintaining strong customer engagement, ensuring operational resilience, and positioning the business to benefit as market confidence and investment appetite improve. The Group is confident in its ability to capitalise on the long-term structural tailwinds in the real estate market, where demand for high quality flexible, technology-enabled solutions continues to grow as companies return to office working.

Possible Offer

As announced on 28 November 2025, the Independent Directors of the Company, (being the full Board except for Mark Furness) confirm that Mark Furness, founder and a Non-Executive Director, has submitted a preliminary, indicative, non-binding proposal to the Independent Directors relating to a possible all-cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company at 20 pence per share (the "Possible Offer"). Any Possible Offer would be made by a to-be-incorporated company.

The Independent Directors are in preliminary discussions with Mark Furness in relation to the Possible Offer. These discussions are at an early stage, and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made. A further update will be provided in due course.

James Lowery

Chief Executive Officer

5 January 2026

Chief Financial Officer's Report

The financial results included in this announcement cover the Group's consolidated activities for the twelve months ended 31 July 2025. The comparatives for the previous twelve months were for the Group's consolidated activities for the twelve months ended 31 July 2024.

Financial Key Performance Indicators

Revenue

Group total revenue decreased by 21% to £19.2m in FY25 (FY24: £24.1m), primarily due to the downsizing of a single large strategic customer, as previously guided. Excluding this customer, Group total revenue decreased by 11% and recurring revenue decreased by 5%, reflecting the anticipated impact of customer churn from smaller non-strategic customers and from our Cloud business. At constant currency, stripping out the negative impact of movements in the US Dollar, recurring revenue declined by 1%.

Run Rate ARR decreased by 26% year on year, again driven by the downsizing of the customer above. Excluding this customer and at constant currency, Run Rate ARR decreased by 5%. This again reflects the anticipated impact of customer churn from smaller non-strategic customers and from our Cloud business.

ARR from strategic customers decreased by 2%. This was driven by some property portfolio rationalisation as customers focus on their more profitable sites, as well as the continuing shift in product mix away from our lower margin Cloud product and into essensys Platform software products. essensys Platform now accounts for 72% of ARR (FY24: 67%). ARR from strategic customers continues to account for 79% (FY24: 82%). Excluding the single large customer above, the proportion of ARR from strategic customers increased by 2 percentage points to 72% (FY24: 70%).

From a regional perspective, North America remains our largest revenue contributor. While North America declined by 31% in terms of site numbers, this mainly related to the single customer above downsizing. Excluding this customer and at constant currency, Run Rate ARR for North America decreased by 1% and still accounts for 51% of total ARR (FY24: 49%). While UK and Europe ARR declined by 15%, this was driven by losses of non-strategic customers and reduced demand for our Operate solution. We have seen net site growth in this region with closing site numbers up 7 on FY24 year end. APAC growth continued with 15 new sites live in the year, an increase of 58%.

Non-recurring revenue comprises set up and installation costs and is recognised when a site is live. Non-recurring revenue reduced by 41% compared to FY24, reflecting challenging market conditions, with customers continuing to show hesitancy in capital investment. With initiatives to simplify installation completed in the year, as well as the launch of elumo, we expect a reduced requirement for customers to need upfront investment, reducing barriers to adoption and supporting future recurring revenue growth.

Gross profit

Gross profit decreased by 18% in the year, reflecting the reductions seen in revenue. Gross margins improved to 59% (FY24: 57%), driven by the changes seen in product mix, with an increasing amount of higher margin software from essensys Platform relative to declines in its Cloud product. As a result, recurring revenue margins increased by 1 percentage point to 63%. The emphasis on recurring revenue has also driven an increase in margins, with a lower proportion of non-recurring revenue.

Margins also benefitted from the Company's strategy to transition to a pure play SaaS model, which no longer requires essensys Cloud to deliver and which allowed essensys to successfully complete its FY25 data centre decommissioning project, closing 10 centres in the year as planned, with a further final two planned for closure in FY26. The annualised cost savings realised by the completion of this project total £1.5m, positioning the business to deliver stronger cash generation, higher margins and greater scalability, whilst better aligning with customer requirements.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses represent all administrative expenses, excluding restructuring costs and non-cash items of depreciation, amortisation, impairment and share option charges.

Operating expenses decreased by £4.6m (32%) compared to the prior year. This reflects the continuing emphasis on cost management and operational simplification in the business, as we control costs in the face of the challenging economic environment and builds on the savings achieved in FY24 through the Group reorganisation.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted results are prepared to provide a more comparable indication of the Group's core business performance by removing the impact of certain items including exceptional items (material and non-recurring), and other, non-trading, items that are reported separately. Adjusted results exclude adjusting items as set out in the statement of consolidated loss and below, with further details given in Notes 7 and 8 of the financial statements. In addition, the Group also measures and presents performance in relation to various other non-IFRS measures, such as recurring revenue, run-rate annual recurring revenue and revenue growth. 

Adjusted results are not intended to replace statutory results. These have been presented to provide users with additional information and analysis of the Group's performance, consistent with how the Board monitors results.

Adjusted EBITDA (being EBITDA prior to exceptional restructuring costs and non-cash impairment and share based payment) is calculated as follows:

Despite the challenging sales environment and lower revenues in the year, the Group achieved a return to profitability, as seen in Adjusted EBITDA of £1.3m. This was an improvement of £2.2m vs. FY24, reflecting the Group's continued focus on profitability and cash, which more than offset the reduction in revenue and gross profit.

The Group continues to invest in product development in the UK. Where such work is expected to result in future revenue, costs incurred that meet the definition of software development in accordance with IAS38, Intangible Assets, are capitalised in the statement of financial position. During the year, the Group capitalised £2.0m in respect of software development (FY24: £2.1m). This level of investment is reflected in the progress made in developing our products, with elumo launched in H2 FY25, and allows us to introduce innovation in our products, which is expected to drive the next phase of our growth.

Taxation

The Group recognised a £0.3m tax credit in the year in respect of R&D activities for the current financial year. This follows tax credits of £2.2m recognised in FY24 for R&D activities from FY21 to FY24. 

Excluding this, the Group incurred a tax charge in the year of £0.1m (FY24: £0.1m), which represents taxes paid on foreign income in the year. There remains over £8.5m in Group carried forward taxable losses and therefore there is no expectation of tax payments in the short term.

Cash

Cash at the year end was £1.8m (FY24: £3.1m). Cash at the half year was £2.2m, with cash outflows in H2 reduced to £0.4m. This was supported by tax credits in respect of R&D activities received in H2 of £0.3m, with an underlying cash outflow of £0.7m, compared to £0.9m in H1.

Following the year end, the Group has undertaken a restructure of the business around the specific needs of its two core products, essensys Platform and elumo, recognising the distinct characteristics and different maturity levels of each. This will generate further cost savings and in addition to the cost savings already realised from the completion of the data centre decommissioning project, protects the Group's cash position going forward.  

To further strengthen the Group's financial resilience and support its strategic growth objectives, essensys is in active discussions to secure a debt facility. This process is designed to optimise the Group's capital structure and ensure that essensys has the capacity to pursue key growth opportunities. Excluding leases, the Group is currently debt free.

In light of the continued impacts of global macroeconomic uncertainty, the Board has considered a number of different scenarios regarding trading and financial performance into FY26 and beyond and is confident that, in the event of a significant long-term downturn, the Group will have sufficient cash resources for the foreseeable future.

Greg Price

Chief Financial Officer

5 January 2026