Losses see UiPath’s share price dip after first earnings call

9 Jun 2021

Image: © panuwat/Stock.adobe.com

The robotics process automation company, which went public in April, racked up hefty losses in the last quarter.

Automation software firm UiPath surpassed Wall Street expectations on revenue in its first earnings report as a public company, but still saw its share price drop as it booked losses.

Shares dropped 12pc in after-hours trading yesterday (8 June) after the company reported losses of $239.7m for the first quarter of the year. It is a significant increase in losses compared to the $52.8m in the same period last year.

Revenue was up year on year from $113m to $186.2m.

UiPath develops robotic process automation (RPA) technology to automate various tasks for businesses and went public in a bumper IPO earlier this year that raised $1.3bn. The company’s market cap is currently $39.4bn.

Chief executive Daniel Dines said that the company’s annual recurring revenue has grown to $653m.

Ashim Gupta, the company’s chief financial officer, said that UiPath has more than 8,500 customers with 1,105 of those paying more than $100,000 in revenue annually and 104 paying over $1m.

“Our end-to-end automation platform, flexible deployment model and growing ecosystem of partners position us well to capitalise on the more than $60bn market opportunity ahead of us,” Dines added.

This year, along with its IPO, the company has released the latest version of its software platform that has signed up 5,000 customers and it acquired API integration start-up Cloud Elements. It also appointed new executives in chief people officer Bettina Koblick and chief culture officer Andreea Baciu.

“Given our existing momentum, we plan to continue to invest in growth while maintaining operational rigour as we run our business,” Gupta said.

In the next quarter, UiPath path forecasts revenues of between $180m and $185m, with losses narrowing to between $25m and $35m.

UiPath has been backing education programmes around automation. It recently partnered with seven HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the US to train students on RPA and drive greater diversity. In Ireland, it is involved in the ABP School of Automation, which is running programmes in Clare and Limerick.

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

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