Exasol AG, a provider of high-performance analytics database technology, reported preliminary financial results for 2025 showing significant improvement in key profitability metrics while advancing its strategic transformation toward defined focus industries. The company's performance highlights the impact of its refocused business strategy on financial health and future growth prospects in the competitive data analytics sector.
Revenue increased by 5.6% to €41.8 million, in line with guidance for mid-single-digit percentage growth. This figure included one-time hardware and services revenue of €4.1 million. More notably, EBITDA reached €4.1 million, at the upper end of the guidance range of €3.5 million to €4.0 million and more than doubling year-on-year from €2.0 million. The strong operating performance drove group net income to €3.1 million, a substantial increase from €0.2 million in the prior year. Consequently, the equity ratio improved to 34.2% from 23.8%, and cash and cash equivalents grew to €18.7 million from €15.0 million.
The company's strategic pivot toward focus industries showed clear progress. Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in these industries increased by 10.1% to €26.7 million, raising their share of total ARR to 68% from 57% at the end of 2024. However, total ARR declined by 8.0% to €39.1 million, as growth in focus industries did not fully offset anticipated declines in non-focus industries. This decline was partly accelerated by pull-forward effects, where contract terminations and downsizing expected in 2026 occurred earlier than planned.
Operational initiatives supported this transformation. Exasol realigned its European sales structures to be organized by focus industry rather than across industries, aiming to increase sales effectiveness and enable more targeted customer engagement with deeper industry expertise. Technologically, the company expanded its analytics engine capabilities. It progressed in developing its cloud-based Lakehouse Turbo solution, which connects to the Databricks database platform to offer customers reduced data analytics costs, faster delivery of analytics results, and continued use of existing Databricks environments. The solution is currently in testing with a reference customer.
Additionally, Exasol successfully brought to market a solution for integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning applications into its analytics engine. This allows customers to perform AI-based data analytics and training models via the Exasol engine and store resulting structured data in Exasol’s data warehouse. The company has reached a key strategic milestone with this development, already serving a double-digit number of customers using these new functionalities.
For the 2026 financial year, Exasol expects mid-single-digit percentage ARR growth compared to 2025, driven by a significant reduction in ARR churn and accelerated new customer acquisition. Strategic partnerships concluded in 2025 with MariaDB, Stackit, and Exoscale are expected to contribute to this development. Revenue is projected to decline in the mid-single-digit percentage range, primarily due to lagging effects from the 2025 ARR decline and lower expected one-time hardware and services revenue. Considering planned investments in innovation and technology, Exasol expects EBITDA in the range of €3 million to €4 million for 2026.
The company's improved financial metrics and strategic execution demonstrate how focusing resources on high-potential industries can enhance profitability despite transitional revenue pressures. This matters to the data analytics industry as it shows a path for specialized technology providers to strengthen their market position through strategic focus and technological innovation, particularly in AI and cloud integration. For customers and investors, Exasol's performance indicates increased stability and capability to deliver advanced analytics solutions, with implications for data-driven decision-making across regulated sectors. The company invites interested investors and media to a virtual webcast, with registration available at https://www.appairtime.com/de/event/94fe37a3-8f7c-4877-8728-060d21f8b292.
