*NEW RESEARCH* Thomsons Online Benefits poised for future growth

London-based Thomsons Online Benefits is a pure play employee benefits administration SaaS provider, successfully punching above its weight in a much larger global HR software and services market. Thomsons has gained a strong reputation for its software product Darwin, via global business process services (BPS) partners such as NGA HR, Xerox, ADP and Mercer.

At first glance, the newly released FY15 results (to 31 December) appear underwhelming. Revenue was £32.4m (up marginally from £32.1m in 2014) (although a significant improvement on the 13% fall the previous year – see Thomson Online Benefits growing pains shifting to the cloud). Operating losses however were -£1.4m (vs. a £516k profit last time), as commissions from insurers declined. Profits are expected to improve in 2016 as strong growth in subscription-based SaaS revenue and new partner agreements come on stream.

The underlying numbers show a company ready to return to growth. SaaS revenue is up 36% yoy, meanwhile 50% of SaaS bookings are now from multi-country global clients, and international revenue is up 54%. Revenues outside the UK are now c20% of the business. 

2015 also saw new partnerships with business process services (BPS) players ADP, Xerox and Mercer, adding to existing partnerships with NGA HR, Towers Watson and others. The result is a network of strong relationships that extend Thomsons footprint, via important global channel partners, and which establish it well positioned for growth in 2016/17.

TechMarketView subscribers can download the Thomsons Online Benefits company snapshot here. If you haven’t taken a subscription yet, Deborah Seth will be happy to help you out.  

Posted by John O'Brien at '09:22' - Tagged: saas   bps   benefits