Security and cloud drive Exclusive Networks’ Q1

Exclusive Networks has continued to demonstrate that its growth credentials were more than just words on a share prospectus, with strong sales for its first quarter.

The distributor, which went public in 2021, has delivered a 24.9% year-on-year increase in gross sales to €932m. That represented its highest quarterly growth for the last three years, with cyber security sales driving the performance.

The channel player restated that it is aiming to hit 2022 targets of gross sales above €3.8bn and is looking for decent profits. “Following a very strong performance in 2021, we accelerated our growth in the first quarter of 2022,” said Jesper Trolle, CEO at Exclusive Networks.

“The cyber security market grows in importance with widening risk awareness from end-users, with geopolitical tensions, with further generalisation of hybrid working and continued deployment of digital business processes in the cloud all driving the acceleration in demand for cyber security solutions. This is prompting many small and large companies to increase their cyber security spending plans for 2022 and being more careful on what will protect them best.”

Trolle said the firm was coming into this year on the back of strong momentum and that had helped it hit the ground running in the first quarter.

“The outstanding performance seen at the beginning of 2022 was the result of both our growth strategy, our successful investments in 2021, notably through vendor expansion and M&A, and our increasing prominent position at the very centre of the cyber security ecosystem,” he said.

“In the first quarter of 2022, we signed over 400 new resellers, totalling over 21,000, we expanded four of our vendors into new geographies and added two net new vendors to our portfolio to reach a total of 262, further expanding our share within our addressable market.”

Exclusive has also seen an increase in cloud business, which now accounts for 28% of sales, with its X-OD platform experiencing a nine-fold increase in terms of transactions going through from partners.

“This performance was made on the back of continuous disruptions and delays across supply chains worldwide, originating mainly from the chipset shortage issues and the lockdown of some regions in China,” said Trolle. “But the very strong demand was more powerful than these hurdles and our backlog remained historically high.

“The very strong growth delivered in the first quarter 2022, and the exciting growth opportunities we have in front of us, gives good confidence in the performance of the business going forward.”