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Intouch Insight projects recent acquisitions to fuel up to 40% revenue jump in 2024

April 5, 2024

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Ottawa software firm Intouch Insight predicts its revenues will jump as much as 40 per cent in 2024 compared with last year as it reaps the benefits of recent acquisitions. Intouch, which specializes in customer survey and data collection software for major retailers and other clients, generated $25.4 million in revenues for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, up from $23.5 million the previous year. The firm, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange, is projecting its 2024 revenues to increase between 25 and 40 per cent over 2023. Intouch said it expects to see a major boost from its acquisition last October of Ohio-based Alta360 Research and its sister firm, Ardent Retail Services. Founded in 1974, Alta360 specializes in platforms and products that help major retailers, restaurant chains, gas stations, supermarkets and other Fortune 200 clients gather feedback from consumers and intelligence on competitors’ pricing and services. Ardent Retail Services is a new venture that provides signage, maintenance services, inventory management and other offerings to big-box chains in the U.S. The new business units delivered nearly $3.6 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023, with about $2.4 million coming from Ardent. In financial filings this week, Intouch said it expects the two companies to add between $7 million and $10 million to its overall revenues in 2024. “We expect our revenues from traditional business lines to exceed the $23 million from 2023 and Ardent revenues to be incremental to this core growth,” CEO Cameron Watt said in a statement, adding the company’s total revenues will depend on “general market conditions, the timing of new revenue acquisition, and the ability of Ardent to deliver on its business plan.” Intouch cautioned that global economic uncertainty remains a major concern despite the uptick in revenues. “As we look to 2024 the headwinds we hoped had subsided for our clients have, in fact, continued and there remains a general feeling of unease in the retail marketplace in the United States,” the company said in its annual management discussion and analysis document. “We do not expect that this will affect our focus on growth for 2024 but we do expect it to push some potential new business out until 2025.” Still, Watt said he was pleased with the way the firm has navigated challenges that included ongoing economic turbulence that caused some customers to reduce spending and the loss of a major one-time services contract that was not renewed last year. “At the outset, we knew that 2023 would be challenging due to the uncertain economic times and the need to replace two million dollars of non-recurring revenue from 2022,” he said. “This challenge was met, and we were able to grow not only recurring revenues but overall revenues while increasing our investment in future growth, delivering significant EBITDA, and successfully integrating our latest acquisitions.” Intouch’s bottom line took a hit in 2023 as the firm ramped up spending on sales and marketing by 28 per cent over the previous year. The company reported a net loss of $384,000, or two cents per share, compared with a profit of $610,000, or two cents per share, in 2022. Intouch shares were up three cents to 44 cents in late-afternoon trading on Friday.