20-F: Annual and transition report of foreign private issuers pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
Published on September 19, 2024
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
______________________________________________________
Form 20-F
______________________________________________________
(Mark One)
OR
For the fiscal year ended June 30 , 2024
OR
OR
Date of event requiring this shell company report
Commission file number 001-38607
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter
and translation of Registrant’s name into English)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
England and Wales | ||
(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | ||
|
| ||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | ||
|
Chief Executive Officer
Endava PLC
Tel:
Email: investors@endava.com
| ||
| (Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person) | ||
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||||||||
| * | Not for trading, but only in connection with the registration of the American Depositary Shares. | ||||
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. None
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.
Ordinary shares, nominal value £0.02 per ordinary share: 59,031,432 , as of June 30, 2024. As of June 30, 2024, 44,495,400 Class A ordinary shares and 14,536,032 Class B ordinary shares were outstanding.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. | ||||||||||||||||||||
x |
¨ No
|
|||||||||||||||||||
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. | ||||||||||||||||||||
¨ Yes
|
x |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. | ||||||||||||||||||||
x |
¨ No
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). | ||||||||||||||||||||
x |
¨ No
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Accelerated filer ¨
|
Non-accelerated filer ¨
|
|||||||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨
| ||||||||||||||||||||
† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. | ||||||||||||||||||||
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ¨
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing: | ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. GAAP ¨
|
Other ¨
|
|||||||||||||||||||
If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Item 17 ¨
|
Item 18 ¨
|
|||||||||||||||||||
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). | ||||||||||||||||||||
¨ Yes
|
x |
|||||||||||||||||||
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
F-1 |
|||||
ii
CERTAIN DEFINED TERMS AND PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 20-F to the terms “Endava,” “Endava Limited,” “Endava plc,” the “Group,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Endava plc and our wholly owned subsidiaries.
Our fiscal year ends on June 30. Our audited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB. None of our financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP.
Our financial information is presented in British Pounds. For the convenience of the reader, in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, unless otherwise indicated, translations from British Pounds into U.S. dollars were made at the rate of £1.00 to $1.2841, which was the rate in effect on June 30, 2024. Such U.S. dollar amounts are not necessarily indicative of the amounts of U.S. dollars that could actually have been purchased upon exchange of British Pounds at the dates indicated. All references in this Annual Report on Form 20-F to “$” mean U.S. dollars and all references to “£” and “GBP” mean British Pounds.
We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in some tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that preceded them.
iii
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 20-F contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 20-F can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “potential” and “should,” among others.
Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief, or current expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various important factors, including, but not limited to, those identified in “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors.” In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a guarantee by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:
•our ability to achieve our revenue growth goals in the future;
•our ability to retain existing clients and attract new clients, including our ability to increase revenue from existing clients and diversify our revenue concentration;
•our ability to attract and retain highly skilled information technology, or IT, professionals at cost-effective rates;
•our ability to successfully identify acquisition targets, consummate acquisitions and successfully integrate acquired businesses and personnel;
•our ability to penetrate new industry verticals and geographies and grow our revenue in current industry verticals and geographies;
•our ability to maintain favorable pricing and utilization rates to support our gross margins;
•the effects of increased competition as well as innovations by new and existing competitors in our market;
•the size of our addressable market and market trends;
•our ability to adapt to technological change and industry trends and innovate solutions for our clients;
•our plans for growth and future operations, including our ability to manage our growth;
•our expectations of future operating results or financial performance;
•our ability to effectively manage our international operations, including our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;
•our future financial performance, including trends in revenue, cost of sales, gross profit, selling, general and administrative expenses, finance income and expense and taxes;
•the impact of unstable market and economic conditions, including as a result of actual or anticipated changes in interest rates, economic inflation and the responses by central banking authorities to control such inflation;
•the impact of political instability, natural disaster, events of terrorism and wars, including the military conflict between Ukraine and Russia and related sanctions; and
•other risks and uncertainties, including those listed in “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors.”
iv
Statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 20-F and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
In addition, forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 20-F represents our views only as of the date of this report and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause our views to change. Although we may elect to update these forward-looking statements publicly at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, except as required by applicable law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments.
v
MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA
Certain industry data and market data included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F were obtained from independent third-party surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies, and industry publications and surveys. All of the market data used in this Annual Report on Form 20-F involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We believe that the information from these industry publications and surveys included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F is reliable. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.
vi
PART 1
Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers
Not Applicable.
Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable
Not applicable.
Item 3. Key Information
A. [Reserved]
B. Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not applicable.
D. Risk Factors
Our business faces significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and in our other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including the following risk factors which we face and which are faced by our industry. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. This report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our results could materially differ from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, as a result of certain factors including the risks described below and elsewhere in this report and our other SEC filings. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above.
Summary of Selected Risks Associated with Our Business
•Our operating results have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant variability and our past results may not be indicative of our future performance.
•Our profitability could suffer if we are not able to maintain favorable pricing.
•If we fail to meet publicly announced guidance, or if we fail to forecast our market opportunity accurately, our operating results could be adversely affected, and the price of our ADSs could decline.
•If our information technology systems or those of the third parties with whom we work or our data, are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise.
•If we provide inadequate service or cause disruptions in our clients’ businesses, it could result in significant costs to us, the loss of our clients and damage to our corporate reputation.
•Our contracts could be unprofitable.
•We are dependent on our existing client base and our ability to retain such clients.
•Our revenue is dependent on a limited number of industry verticals, and any decrease in demand for technology services in these verticals or our failure to effectively penetrate new verticals could adversely affect our results of operations.
•We use generative artificial intelligence, or AI, tools in our operations, which may result in significant operational challenges, liability and reputational harm.
•We must attract, retain and motivate highly skilled IT professionals.
•We are focused on growing our client base in North America and Europe and may not be successful.
•If we do not continue to innovate and remain at the forefront of emerging technologies and related market trends, we may lose clients and not remain competitive.
•We are dependent on members of our senior management team and other key employees.
1
•Our business may suffer if we fail to identify and acquire appropriate acquisition targets, and recently completed and potential future acquisitions could prove difficult to integrate or may disrupt our business, dilute shareholder value, strain our resources or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
•The terms of our revolving credit facility and any further debt we incur may affect our ability to operate our business or secure additional financing in the future.
•We have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, a long selling and implementation cycle with respect to certain projects that require us to make significant resource commitments prior to recognizing revenue for our services.
•Our business depends on a strong brand and corporate reputation.
•We generally do not have long-term commitments from our clients, and our clients may terminate engagements before completion or choose not to enter into new engagements with us.
•We have significant fixed costs related to lease facilities and may incur additional expense as we adapt our facilities in response to our transition to a hybrid working model.
•We may not receive sufficient intellectual property rights from our employees and contractors to comply with our obligations to our clients and we may not be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property.
•We use software, hardware and software-as-a-service, or SaaS, technologies from third parties that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or defects in, or failures of, the services or solutions we provide, which could result in material adverse consequences.
•We incorporate third-party open source software into our client deliverables and our failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could adversely impact our clients and create potential liability.
•Our business and operations could be negatively affected by any pending or future securities litigation or shareholder activism.
•We are subject to stringent and evolving laws, regulations, rules, self-regulatory standards, policies, contractual obligations, and other obligations related to data privacy and security, including in the European Union and the United Kingdom, where we have material operations. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could expose us to regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties or other financial liabilities, disruption of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profit, loss of clients or sales and/or adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.
•Our performance and reputation could be adversely affected by increased focus on and demands from clients, investors and regulators with respect to environmental social and governance, or ESG, issues and we may be criticized or penalized for the timing, nature or scope of our ESG disclosures as regulatory standards evolve.
•Claims of U.S. civil liabilities may not be enforceable against us.
•Our revenue, margins, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected if general economic conditions in Europe, the United States or the global economy worsen.
•Increased inflation rates in the regions in which we operate may reduce our margins, profitability and financial performance.
•Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and the price of our ADSs.
•Tax authorities may disagree with our positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, or may apply existing rules in an arbitrary or unforeseen manner, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realization of expected benefits.
•If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired, and the trading price of our ADSs may be negatively impacted.
•The price of our ADSs may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.
•Shareholder protections found in provisions under the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Code, will not apply if our place of management and control is considered to change to outside the United Kingdom.
2
•The dual class structure of our ordinary shares has the effect of concentrating voting control for the foreseeable future, which will limit your ability to influence corporate matters.
•The rights of our shareholders may differ from the rights typically offered to shareholders of a U.S. corporation.
•Holders of our ADSs have fewer rights than our shareholders and must act through the depositary to exercise their rights.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our operating results have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant variability and our past results may not be indicative of our future performance.
Our operating results have fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate, due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Fluctuations in our operating results may be particularly pronounced in the current economic environment due to the economic slowdown, inflation and other financial uncertainties. You should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.
Factors that are likely to cause these variations include:
•the number, timing, scope and contractual terms of projects in which we are engaged;
•delays in project commencement or staffing delays due to difficulty in assigning appropriately skilled or experienced professionals;
•the accuracy of estimates on the resources, time and fees required to complete projects and costs incurred in the performance of each project;
•inability to retain employees or maintain employee utilization levels;
•changes in pricing in response to client demand and competitive pressures;
•the business decisions of our clients regarding the use of our services or spend on technology;
•the ability to further grow sales of services to existing clients;
•seasonal trends and the budget and work cycles of our clients;
•delays or difficulties in expanding our operational facilities or infrastructure;
•our ability to estimate costs under fixed price contracts;
•employee wage levels and increases in compensation costs;
•unanticipated contract or project terminations;
•the timing of collection of accounts receivable;
•our ability to manage risk through our contracts;
•the continuing financial stability of our clients;
•changes in our effective tax rate;
•fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
•general economic conditions, including the recent and ongoing global slowdown in economic growth as well as high levels of inflation and interest rate fluctuations;
•the impact of public health pandemics; and
3
•the impact of unforeseen global and geopolitical events.
As a result of these factors, our operating results may from time to time fall below our estimates or the expectations of public market analysts and investors.
Our profitability could suffer if we are not able to maintain favorable pricing.
Our profitability and operating results are dependent on the rates we are able to charge for our services. Our rates are affected by a number of factors, including:
•our clients’ perception of our ability to add value through our services;
•our competitors’ pricing policies;
•bid practices of clients and their use of third-party advisors;
•the ability of large clients to exert pricing pressure;
•employee wage levels and increases in compensation costs;
•employee utilization levels;
•our ability to charge premium prices when justified by market demand or the type of service; and
•general economic conditions, including the impact of fluctuating rates of inflation.
If we are not able to maintain favorable pricing for our services, our ability to win contracts could suffer. Alternatively, if we continue to offer pricing that is favorable to our clients but is unfavorable to us, we may face reduced margins and profitability if the rate of inflation increases and we absorb additional costs into our business. Ultimately, if we are unable to strategically set the rates that we charge for our services, to ensure that they continue to be both attractive to clients but also commensurate with the inflationary pressures on our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
If we fail to meet publicly announced guidance, or if we fail to forecast our market opportunity accurately, our operating results could be adversely affected, and the price of our ADSs could decline.
We release earnings guidance in our quarterly and annual earnings conference calls, quarterly and annual earnings releases, or otherwise, regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. Our guidance is prepared by management and is qualified by, and subject to, a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges, which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. Our actual business results may vary significantly from such guidance or consensus due to a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including global economic uncertainty, unfavorable financial market conditions, and decreased client spend on technology products, which could adversely affect our business and future operating results. If our revenue or results of operations fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any guidance we may provide, or if the guidance we provide is below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our ADSs could decline substantially. Such a decline in the price of our ADSs could occur even if we have met any previously publicly stated guidance we may provide.
In addition, growth forecasts included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F relating to our market opportunity and the expected growth in the market for our services are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates which may prove to be inaccurate. Even if these markets meet our size estimates and experience the forecasted growth, we may not grow our business at similar rates, or at all. Our growth is subject to many risks and uncertainties, including our success in implementing our business strategy. Accordingly, any
4
forecasts of market growth included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
If our IT systems or those of the third parties with whom we work or our data, are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise.
In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store and process (defined above) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, source code, intellectual property, sensitive third-party data, and client data (including proprietary and confidential information of our clients and our clients’ clients, including their confidential business data and intellectual property). We and the third parties with whom we work face a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to ransomware attacks, which could cause security incidents, disrupt our operations, result in the loss or exposure of sensitive information, regulatory actions, fines, penalties, reputational loss, a loss of clients and loss of revenue or profits.
Cyberattacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our sensitive information and information technology systems, and those of the third parties with whom we work. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer “hackers,” threat actors, “hacktivists,” organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), sophisticated nation states, and nation-state-supported actors. Some actors now engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyberattacks, including without limitation nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third parties with whom we work may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyberattacks, that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our goods and services. For example, we have employees and clients located in potentially unstable regions and regions experiencing (or expected to experience) geopolitical or other conflicts, including Moldova, a neighboring country of Ukraine (which was attacked by Russia in February 2022 through various means, including cyberattacks).
We and the third parties with whom we work may be subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through deep fakes, which may be increasingly more difficult to identify as fake, and phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (such as credential stuffing), credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, attacks enhanced or facilitated by artificial intelligence, or AI, telecommunications and internet infrastructure failures, earthquakes, fires, and floods, and other similar threats. Like many companies, any significant failure of our equipment or systems, or any major disruption to basic infrastructure like power and telecommunications in the locations in which we operate, could impede our ability to provide our solutions and services to our clients. We may not be able to consistently maintain active voice and data communications between our various global operations and with our clients due to disruptions in telecommunication networks and power supply, or system failures. Any significant failure in our ability to communicate could result in a disruption in business, which could hinder our performance and our ability to complete projects on time. Such failure to perform on client contracts could have a material adverse effect on our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition and the market price of our American Depositary Shares, or ADSs. Additionally, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of sensitive information and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.
Additionally, our workforce has transitioned from being based primarily in our offices or at client sites to a hybrid working model. A significant number of our employees work from home at least part time, as part of this hybrid working model. This model has increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as more of our employees utilize network connections, computers, and devices outside our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit and in public locations. Our operations could also be materially adversely affected by interruptions in internet service or power at employee residences. Additionally, the services we provide are often
5
critical to our clients’ businesses and the level of criticality has increased in some cases as a result of our client’s increased reliance on digital systems due to new hybrid ways of working. Although we provide training on the appropriate use of web browser password managers to store Endava and client credentials, there is a risk that these credentials may be compromised by an attack on one of our employees’ personal devices, leading to a breach of our systems or our clients’ systems and consequential reputational and financial impacts. Future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program.
Additionally, we rely on third-party service providers and technologies, such as third-party hardware and software (including SaaS applications) to operate critical business systems, including but not limited to processing sensitive information. For example, we may use the following third-party service providers and technologies to process sensitive information: cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, technology to facilitate content delivery to clients, and others. We may also rely on third-party service providers and technologies to provide other products, services, or otherwise, apart from processing sensitive information, that are critical to the general operation of our business. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If our third-party service providers experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party service providers fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties’ infrastructure in our supply chain or our third-party partners’ supply chains have not been or will not be compromised.
Any of the previously identified or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption that could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our or our clients’ or our clients’ clients sensitive information or information technology systems, or those of the third parties with whom we work. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties with whom we work) to provide our services. We may spend significant resources to endeavor to protect against, detect, and/or mitigate vulnerabilities or security incidents, and applicable laws or other obligations may require us to implement specific measures. We may also expend significant resources to modify our business activities to try to protect against security incidents. Certain data privacy and security obligations may require us to implement and maintain specific security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive information. Additionally, certain of our client contracts require us to comply with certain security obligations, such as maintaining network security and backup data, taking steps designed to ensure our network is virus-free, maintaining business continuity planning procedures, and verifying the integrity of employees that work with our clients by conducting background checks.
We have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, but there can be no assurance that these measures are or will be effective. We take steps to detect and remediate vulnerabilities but have not always been able in the past and may be unable in the future to detect vulnerabilities in our information technology systems because such threats and techniques change frequently, are often sophisticated in nature, and may not be detected until after a security incident has occurred. For example, we have from time to time experienced minor security incidents, including for example an employee who inadvertently extracted data from a client’s system (no personal data was extracted). None of these incidents, to our knowledge, have required regulatory disclosures or notifications. Promptly after each incident's discovery, we took remedial actions to assess and contain the security incident and to evaluate the likelihood and severity of risks to personal data. In each such instance, we determined that there was no material impact to our business or financial condition nor to individual’s personal data. While we believe we responded appropriately, there can be no assurance that we were successful in implementing these remedial and preventative measures or successfully mitigating the effects of any future security incident. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities.
6
Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us to notify relevant stakeholders, including affected individuals, clients or our clients’ clients, regulators, and investors of security incidents, or to implement other requirements, such as providing credit monitoring. Such disclosures and compliance with such requirements are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences. Additionally, if we, a third party with whom we work, our clients or our clients’ clients experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience adverse consequences. These consequences may include: litigation exposure (including class action claims) and other claims for substantial damages against us; government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, regulatory fines, penalties, audits, inspections or intervention); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on processing sensitive information (including personal data); indemnification obligations; monetary fund diversions; interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss; loss of confidence in our security measures; reputational damage; negative publicity; reimbursement or other compensatory costs; additional compliance costs; and additional similar harms, and therefore could materially adversely affect our revenue, and results of operations, business and prospects, such as causing clients to stop using our services, deter new clients from using our services, and negatively impact our ability to grow and operate our business. If any person, including any of our personnel or former personnel or aforementioned threat actors, compromises our security or accidentally exposes our sensitive information, including our source code, or compromises the security, or accidentally exposes the sensitive information, including source code, of our clients’, our clients’ clients or other third party, or misappropriates such information, then we could be subject to significant liability from our clients, our clients’ clients or other third parties for breaching contractual provisions, including confidentiality, or applicable privacy and data security laws.
Additionally, the reliability of the systems that we develop and host for our clients is critical to our success. However, these systems could contain errors, defects, security vulnerabilities or software bugs that are difficult to detect and correct, particularly when such vulnerabilities are first introduced or when new versions of the systems are deployed. It may be costly and difficult to develop and deploy patches for vulnerabilities and delays in releasing patches or difficulties installing them may impact our clients’ or our clients’ clients’ ability to use systems and services, and result in security incidents. Additionally, some of our business depends upon our clients’ appropriate and successful implementation of the systems that we develop and host for them. If our clients fail to implement or use these systems correctly, our clients may suffer a security incident or experience other adverse consequences. Additionally, any failure in a client’s system, whether related to our solutions or services, could result in adverse consequences, including damage to our reputation or substantial damages against us. Even if such incidents are unrelated to our security practices, it could result in our incurring significant economic and operational costs in investigating, remediating, and implementing additional measures to further protect our clients, and could result in reputational harm, as well as other adverse consequences.
Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. We cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.
In addition to experiencing a security incident, third parties may gather, collect, or infer sensitive information about us from public sources, data brokers, or other means that reveals competitively sensitive details about our organization and could be used to undermine our competitive advantage or market position.
Additionally, our sensitive information or that of our clients could be leaked, disclosed, or revealed as a result of or in connection with our employee’s, personnel’s, or vendor’s use of generative AI technologies. Any sensitive information (including confidential, competitive, proprietary, or personal data) that we input into a third-party generative AI platform could be leaked or disclosed to others, including if sensitive information is used to train the third parties’ AI model. Additionally, where an AI model ingests personal data and makes connections using such data, those technologies may reveal other personal or sensitive information generated by the model. See also the risk factor titled “We use generative AI tools in our operations, which may result in significant operational challenges, liability and reputational harm.”
7
If we provide inadequate service or cause disruptions in our clients’ businesses, it could result in significant costs to us, the loss of our clients and damage to our corporate reputation.
Any defects or errors or failure to meet clients’ expectations in the performance of our contracts could result in claims for substantial damages against us. Our contracts generally limit our liability for damages that arise from negligent acts, error, mistakes or omissions in rendering services to our clients. However, we cannot be sure that these contractual provisions will protect us from liability for damages in the event we are sued. In addition, certain liabilities, such as claims of third parties for intellectual property infringement and breaches of data protection and security requirements, for which we may be required to indemnify our clients, could be substantial. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us in amounts greater than those covered by our current insurance policies could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if such assertions against us are unsuccessful, we may incur reputational harm and substantial legal fees. In addition, a failure or inability to meet a contractual requirement could seriously damage our corporate reputation and limit our ability to attract new business.
In certain instances, we guarantee clients that we will complete a project by a scheduled date or that we will maintain certain service levels. We are generally not subject to monetary penalties for failing to complete projects by the scheduled date but may suffer reputational harm and loss of future business if we do not meet our contractual commitments. In addition, if the project experiences a performance problem, we may not be able to recover the additional costs we will incur, which could exceed revenue realized from a project.
Our contracts could be unprofitable.
We perform our services primarily under time-and-materials contracts (where materials costs consist of travel and out-of-pocket expenses). We charge out the services performed by our employees under these contracts at daily or hourly rates that are agreed at the time at which the contract is entered. The rates and other pricing terms negotiated with our clients are highly dependent on our internal forecasts of our operating costs and predictions of increases in those costs influenced by wage inflation and other marketplace factors, as well as the volume of work required by the client. Our predictions are based on limited data and could turn out to be inaccurate, resulting in contracts that may not be profitable. Typically, we do not have the ability to increase the rates established at the outset of a client project, other than on an annual basis and often subject to caps. Independent of our right to increase our rates on an annual basis, client expectations regarding the anticipated cost of a project may limit our ability to increase our rates for ongoing work.
In addition to our time-and-materials contracts, which generate a significant proportion of our revenue, we undertake a small proportion of our engagements on a fixed-price basis. Our pricing in fixed-price contracts is highly dependent on our assumptions and forecasts about the costs we expect to incur to complete the related project, which are based on limited data and could turn out to be inaccurate. Any failure by us to accurately estimate the resources, including the skills and seniority of our employees, required to complete a fixed-price contract on time and on budget, or any unexpected increase in the cost of our employees assigned to the related project, office space or materials could expose us to risks associated with cost overruns and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, any unexpected changes in economic conditions that affect any of the foregoing assumptions and predictions could render contracts that would have been favorable to us when signed unfavorable.
Our revenue is dependent on a limited number of industry verticals, and any decrease in demand for technology services in these verticals or our failure to effectively penetrate new verticals could adversely affect our results of operations.
Historically, we have focused on developing industry expertise and deep client relationships in a limited number of industry verticals. As a result, a substantial portion of our revenue has been generated by clients operating in the payments, banking and capital markets, or BCM, and the technology, media and telecommunications, or TMT, verticals. Of these verticals, Payments constituted 24.1%, 29.2% and 29.8%, BCM constituted 14.9%, 16.2% and 15.1%, and TMT constituted, 22.8%, 21.9% and 25.0% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our business growth largely depends on continued demand for our services from
8
clients in these verticals, and any slowdown or decline in spend on technology services in these verticals could result in a decrease in the demand for our services and impact our revenue. For example, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, our Payments and BCM clients have demonstrated a cautious view on the macro-environment, resulting in a slower release of IT budgets and delays to transformation projects.
We have also begun expanding our business into other verticals, such as consumer products, healthcare, mobility, insurance and retail. However, we have less experience in these verticals and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in penetrating these verticals. There may be competitors in these verticals that may be entrenched and difficult to dislodge. As a result of these and other factors, including increased spending controls by companies due to global economic conditions, our efforts to expand our client base may be expensive and may not succeed, and we therefore may be unable to grow our revenue. Failure to further penetrate our existing industry verticals or expand our client base in new verticals may materially adversely affect our revenue, financial condition and results of operations. Other developments, including impacts from the current period of economic uncertainty, the escalation of geopolitical tensions, including between Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas and other unfavorable global economic conditions including disruptions to trade and commerce, in the industries in which we operate may also lead to a decline in the demand for our services, and we may not be able to successfully anticipate and prepare for any such changes. For example, consolidation or acquisitions in the industry, particularly involving our clients, may adversely affect our business. Our existing and potential clients may experience rapid changes in their prospects, substantial price competition and pressure on their profitability. This, in turn, may result in increasing pressure on us to lower our prices, which could adversely affect our revenue, results of operations and financial condition.
We are dependent on our existing client base and our ability to retain such clients.
A significant percentage of our revenue comes from our existing client base. For example, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, 91.7% of our revenue came from clients from whom we generated revenue during the prior fiscal years. Additionally, during the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, our 10 largest clients accounted for 32.5%, 32.8% and 33.8% of our revenue, respectively. However, the volume of work performed for a specific client is likely to vary from year to year, especially since we generally do not have long-term commitments from our clients and are often not our clients’ exclusive technology services provider. A major client in one year may not provide the same level of revenue for us in any subsequent years. Further, one or more of our significant clients could be acquired and there can be no assurance that the acquirer would choose to use our services to the same degree as previously, if at all. In particular, some of our clients are owned by private equity firms and are, therefore, inherently more likely to be sold at some point in the future.
In addition, the services we provide to our clients, and the revenue and income from those services, may decline or vary as the type and quantity of services we provide changes over time. Our reliance on any individual client for a significant portion of our revenue may give that client a certain degree of pricing leverage against us when negotiating contracts and terms of service. In order to successfully perform and market our services, we must establish and maintain long-term relationships with our clients and develop a thorough understanding of their businesses.
We anticipate that a limited number of clients will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenue in any given fiscal year for the foreseeable future and, in some cases, a portion of our revenue attributable to an individual client may increase in the future. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in maintaining our relationship with and successfully obtaining new engagements from our existing clients or achieve our revenue growth and other financial goals as a result.
Additionally, if our existing client base, notably our largest clients, are adversely impacted by current or future adverse global economic or geopolitical conditions and disruptions to trade, commerce, pricing stability, credit availability and supply chain continuity in both Europe and globally, then we may experience a decrease in demand, delays in payment or postponement of projects, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
9
We use generative AI tools in our operations, which may result in significant operational challenges, liability and reputational harm.
We use generative AI tools in our operations and expect to continue using generative AI tools in the future. With client consent, we may use generative AI tools to generate code that is incorporated into client deliverables. If we are unable to use generative AI tools, it could make our business less efficient and result in competitive disadvantages.
Generative AI refers to AI technology that creates new content (such as text, audio, data, images, video, software code), which we collectively refer to as Output, by leveraging content that the technology was trained on (e.g., through machine learning) in response to prompts submitted by a user, which we refer to as Prompts. Generative AI provides significant opportunities for new and efficient forms of content development, across a wide range of applications. However, the business, legal and ethical landscape regarding generative AI, and its commercialization and regulation is unsettled and constantly evolving. Uncertainty in the legal regulatory regime relating to AI may require significant resources to modify and maintain business practices to comply with relevant U.S. and non-U.S. laws. Several jurisdictions around the globe, including Europe and certain U.S. states, have already proposed or enacted laws governing AI and we expect other jurisdictions will adopt similar laws. For example, on August 1, 2024, the EU AI Act came into force, imposing onerous obligations that will become applicable in a phased manner. Some of the obligations relate to the use of AI-related systems and which will require us to change our business practices to comply with such obligations. We may provide services to clients who are likely to develop AI-related systems categorized by the EU AI Act as “high risk”, and as a result we will be required over the next few years to adapt our approach to software development to ensure that we are in a position to comply with all obligations that attach to such systems. We may be deemed liable under the EU AI Act for non-compliance due to our role in a client project that is [deemed caught] under the regulations. As such, we may be subject to legal liability, regulatory fines or penalties. In addition, under the EU AI Act certain AI system are deemed to present an unacceptable risk and are classed as “prohibited” AI systems on the basis that they pose an unacceptable health or safety risk or a risk to the fundamental rights of EU citizens. From February 2, 2025, our development of a system that could be deemed a prohibited AI system could amount to a serious breach of the EU AI Act. If we fail to implement processes that allow us to identify “prohibited” AI systems in our client work, and we consequently provide services with respect to such AI systems, we may be subject to legal liability, regulatory fines or penalties or reputational harm.
While we have implemented policies to govern the use of generative AI tools by our personnel and any other person in the performance of services for our Company, the use of generative AI in aspects of our business may present material risks and challenges that could increase as generative AI tools become more prevalent.
Recent decisions of the U.S. Copyright Office suggest that we would not be able to claim copyright ownership in any Output, and the availability of such protection in other countries is unclear. In the United Kingdom, copyright law may protect works generated by a computer where there is no human creator, however to date there has been no judicial treatment of these computer-generated work considerations in the context of generative AI. Therefore, even in jurisdictions where copyright protection may be extended to AI-generated works, the ownership of any Outputs generated using generative AI tools may be subject to legal challenge. As a result, we may not be the legal owner of the Output, which in turn is likely to prevent or limit our ability and the ability of our clients to enforce our respective rights in the Output or mean that both our clients and us are unable to prevent others from copying it or reusing it, or unable to stop the provider of the generative AI tool from providing identical Outputs to third parties. The generative AI tool’s terms of service may also declare that the provider of the generative AI tool owns the Outputs, or that it retains a broad right to re-use the Outputs beyond the right to use the Outputs (and the Prompts) to train the generative AI tool.
In addition, we have little or no insight into the third-party content and materials used to train the generative AI tools, or the extent of the original works which remain in the Output. As a result, we and our clients may face claims from third parties alleging infringement of their intellectual property rights, or infringement of open source licenses or other license terms. Open source licenses have various conditions on the use of the source code, ranging from notice and attribution requirements to other more onerous provisions, such as an obligation to make any proprietary code linking to or derived from such open source code available under the same license terms, which could have
10
significant implications for our and our clients’ proprietary code. See also the risk factor titled “We incorporate third-party open source software into our client deliverables and our failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could adversely impact our clients and create potential liability.” We and our clients could also be subject to claims from the providers of the generative AI tools if the use of the Output or the tool is inconsistent with, or in breach of, the terms of use. Any of these claims could result in legal proceedings and liability for us or our clients, and could require us or our clients to purchase a costly license, comply with the requirements of open source software license terms, limit or cease using the Output unless and until such Output is re-engineered to avoid infringement, or change the use of, or remove, the implicated Output. As a result, clients may seek to recover from us by way of IP indemnification claims or other contractual claims any damages or costs that they have incurred as a result of claims from the providers of generative AI tools. Our use of generative AI tools for software development may also present additional security risks because the generated source code may have been modelled from publicly available code, or otherwise not be subject to our internal controls. There is also a risk that “bad actors” may intend to influence training models to incorporate latent security issues, trojans, malware, or “inorganic” results in Outputs. Unlike open source software which typically involves community oversight and review of contributions to open source projects or other community-driven code, generative AI tools may not have the same oversight and review, increasing the risk of any widespread vulnerability or influence of algorithmic output by those with intentions that are against the interest of users or entire groups of users. Our personnel may also forget to obtain client consent to incorporate code generated using generative AI tools into client deliverables or may operate in violation of client policy by taking shortcuts and using generative AI tools without authorization.
Any of the foregoing events could adversely impact our business and the business of our clients, and, as a result, we may suffer significant reputational harm and we may face claims from our clients, including contractual claims if the agreement prohibits the use of AI-generated content in the deliverables and indemnification claims.
In addition, we may use Outputs to influence our decision making. Generative AI tools however may create flawed, incomplete, inaccurate, discriminatory, unethical or biased Outputs, some of which may appear correct. This may happen if the inputs that the AI model relied on were inaccurate, incomplete or flawed (including if a bad actor “poisons” the AI model with bad inputs or logic), or if the logic of the AI model is flawed (a so-called “hallucination”). Due to these potential inaccuracies or flaws, reliance on or use of such Outputs to influence our decisions may lead to adverse outcomes, which may expose us to reputational and competitive harm, client loss, and legal liability.
We also face risks in respect of any personal data or confidential or proprietary information of the company which may be included in any Prompts. Whilst some generative AI tool operators offer an “enterprise” or “business” version with more client-favorable confidentiality and security provisions, free-to-use generative AI tools do not typically have confidentiality or security obligations with respect to Prompts or Outputs. As a result, if our confidential or proprietary information, or information of a third party to which we have an obligation to keep confidential or which is proprietary to such third party, is included in the Prompt provided to the generative AI tool, the generative AI tool might disclose or reuse such confidential or proprietary information, including re-creating the Output to others, or using the information as training data for its AI model, and we may not have the ability to prevent the generative AI tool from doing so or be aware of any changes in the generative AI tool operator’s practices or terms and conditions allowing any such use. Additionally, there is the risk of personal data being included in a Prompt, which could result in such personal data being inappropriately transferred or processed. This could result in a breach of our obligations under applicable data protection laws, or contracts with our clients or other third parties, which could put us at risk of a fine from the relevant regulator and/or a claim for damages. For further information of data protection breaches and fines, see the risk factor titled “We are subject to stringent and evolving laws, regulations, rules, self-regulatory standards, policies, contractual obligations, and other obligations related to data privacy and security, including in the European Union and the United Kingdom, where we have material operations. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could expose us to regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties or other financial liabilities, disruption of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profit, loss of clients or sales and/or adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.”
11
The risks resulting from use of generative AI tools could be difficult to eliminate or manage, and, if not addressed, could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We must maintain adequate employee utilization rates and productivity levels.
Our profitability and the cost of providing our services are affected by our utilization rates of our employees in our delivery locations. If we are not able to maintain appropriate utilization rates for our employees involved in delivery of our services, our profit margin and our profitability may suffer. Our utilization rates are affected by a number of factors, including:
•our ability to promptly transition our employees from completed projects to new assignments and to hire and integrate new employees;
•our ability to forecast demand for our services (and which may be impacted due to the effects of unfavorable global economic conditions) and thereby maintain an appropriate number of employees in each of our delivery locations;
•our ability to deploy employees with appropriate skills and seniority to projects;
•our ability to manage the attrition of our employees; and
•our need to devote time and resources to training, professional development and other activities that cannot be billed to our clients.
Our revenue could also suffer if we misjudge demand patterns, including as a result of uncertainties related to disruptions to trade, commerce, pricing stability, credit availability and supply chain continuity, global public health pandemics, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and any other global economic and geopolitical conditions and do not recruit or sustain sufficient employees to satisfy demand. Employee shortages could prevent us from completing our contractual commitments in a timely manner and cause us to lose contracts or clients. Further, to the extent that we lack or fail to sustain sufficient employees with lower levels of seniority and daily or hourly rates, we may be required to deploy more senior employees with higher rates on projects without the ability to pass such higher rates along to our clients, which could adversely affect our profit margin and profitability.
Our results of operations may be negatively impacted by the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
In late February 2022, Russian military forces launched a significant military action against Ukraine, which we refer to as the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This military conflict remains ongoing and has drawn significant backlash from other countries, including the imposition of financial and economic sanctions by Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and other countries and organizations against officials, individuals, regions and industries in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The conflict and related sanctions have resulted and could continue to result in disruptions to trade, commerce, pricing stability, credit availability and supply chain continuity in both Europe and globally, and has introduced significant uncertainty into global markets.
While our business and operations have not thus far been significantly impacted, it is not possible to predict the broader or longer-term consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on our business. For example, we have employees and clients based in Moldova, a neighboring country of Ukraine. If the armed conflict involving Russia and Ukraine were to spread to other countries such as Moldova, we may incur significant costs associated with assisting our employees with relocating to neighboring countries or providing other forms of aid. We may also lose clients or experience other disruptions of our business activities in the region including through interruptions to power, curfew measures imposed on our employees or due to staff displacement caused by attacks in the region. It is possible that clients will request that we provide services from countries other than Moldova.
12
Other consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict could include further sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, security conditions, currency exchange rates and financial markets. Such geopolitical instability and uncertainty could have a negative impact on our ability to sell to, deliver to, collect payments from, and support clients in certain regions. This could be due to trade restrictions, embargoes and export control law restrictions, and logistics restrictions including closures of air space, which could increase the costs, risks and adverse impacts from supply chain and logistics challenges. There can be no assurance that the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including any resulting sanctions, export controls or other restrictive actions, will not have a material adverse impact on our future operations and results.
We must attract, retain and motivate highly skilled IT professionals.
Our business is people driven and, accordingly, our success depends upon our ability to attract, develop, motivate, retain and effectively utilize highly skilled IT professionals in our delivery locations, which are principally located in European Union countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia), Central European countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia), Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), South East Asia (Malaysia and Vietnam) and India. We believe that there is significant competition for attracting and retaining technology professionals in the geographic regions in which our delivery centers are located, particularly professionals with skills such as AI and other new technologies. Our ability to properly staff projects, maintain and renew existing engagements and win new business depends, in large part, on our ability to recruit, train and retain IT professionals with the skills we require and in the areas where our delivery centers are located.
The technology industry generally experiences a significant rate of turnover of its workforce. Accordingly, we monitor our attrition rate throughout the year, with a target of being lower than 15% on a rolling 12-month basis. At the end of fiscal year 2024, our attrition rate was 13.1% compared to 11.4% at the end of fiscal year 2023. Failure to retain highly skilled IT professionals could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, the recent decline in demand for our services from certain clients may also result in reduced motivation and job satisfaction for remaining employees that are affected, which may impact our ability to motivate and retain talented IT professionals. If we continue to experience an increase in employee attrition, we may struggle to replace them, which may negatively impact our ability to scale up and deliver innovative, high-quality results as the market stabilizes and demand for our services increases.
We are focused on growing our client base in North America and Europe and may not be successful.
We are focused on geographic expansion, particularly in North America and Europe. In fiscal years 2024, 2023 and 2022, 32.6%, 32.5% and 34.8% of our revenue, respectively, came from clients in North America and 25.8%, 23.0% and 21.1% of our revenue, respectively, came from clients in Europe. From fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024, our revenue from clients in North America and Europe decreased by 6.4% and 4.7%, respectively, and from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023, our revenue from clients in North America and Europe increased by 13.2% and 32.3%, respectively. We have completed five significant acquisitions in North America, which has increased our sales presence in North America and added nearshore delivery capacity in Latin America. We have also made meaningful investments to expand in Europe, which expanded our sales presence in Europe and expanded the services we can provide to clients. However, our ability to add new clients will depend on a number of factors, including the market perception of our services, our ability to successfully add nearshore delivery center capacity, pricing, competition, overall economic conditions, including factors such as market correction, economic downturn, recession or fears of recession, inflation, increased unemployment and negative impacts to the global supply chain. For example, global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption, high levels of inflation and interest rate fluctuations, as well as the market correction or other negative global economic conditions resulting from the escalation of geopolitical tensions and related sanctions which may slow down our revenue growth in North America and Europe and could materially negatively affect our expansion of business in these regions. In North America, increasing partisan tensions relating to the upcoming U.S. presidential election are creating a level of uncertainly in the business world around future policy direction, adversely impacting corporate technology investment decisions and negatively impacting demand. In addition, due to recent large-scale layoffs in North America, particularly in the technology industry, there is the possibility that the increased availability of engineers in the employment market will reduce our demand, as clients may choose to have projects delivered in-house. If we are
13
unable to retain existing clients and attract new clients in North America and Europe, we may be unable to grow our revenue and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We face intense competition.
The market for technology and IT services is intensely competitive, highly fragmented and subject to rapid change and evolving industry standards and we expect competition to intensify. We believe that the principal competitive factors that we face are the ability to innovate; technical expertise and industry knowledge; end-to-end solution offerings; the ability to effectively incorporate rapidly emerging technologies, such as AI, technology (including generative AI tools), in our operations and service offering; delivery location; price; reputation and track record for high-quality and on-time delivery of work; effective employee recruiting; training and retention; responsiveness to clients’ business needs; scale; and financial stability.
Our primary competitors include next-generation IT service providers, such as Globant S.A. and EPAM Systems, digital agencies and consulting companies, such as Ideo, McKinsey & Company and Publicis Sapient, global consulting and traditional IT services companies, such as Accenture PLC, Capgemini SE, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation and Tata Consultancy Services Limited, and in-house development by our clients of their technology and IT capabilities. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources and better name recognition than we do. As a result, they may be able to compete more aggressively on pricing or devote greater resources to the development and promotion of technology and IT services. Companies based in some emerging markets also present significant price competition due to their competitive cost structures and tax advantages.
In addition, there are relatively few barriers to entry into our markets and we have faced, and expect to continue to face, competition from new market entrants. Further, there is a risk that our clients may elect to increase their internal resources or use generative AI solutions to produce code and enhance efficiencies to satisfy their service needs as opposed to relying on a third-party service provider, such as us. The technology services industry may also undergo consolidation, which may result in increased competition in our target markets from larger firms that may have substantially greater financial, marketing or technical resources, may be able to respond more quickly to new technologies or processes and changes in client demands, and may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their services than we can. Increased competition could also result in price reductions, reduced operating margins and loss of our market share. We cannot be certain that we will be able to compete successfully with existing or new competitors or that competitive pressures will not materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If we do not continue to innovate and remain at the forefront of emerging technologies and related market trends, we may lose clients and not remain competitive.
The technology services industry is competitive and continuously evolving and is subject to rapidly changing demands and constant technological developments. As a result, success and performance metrics are difficult to predict and measure in our industry. Our success depends on delivering innovative solutions that leverage emerging technologies and emerging market trends to drive increased revenue. Technological advances and innovation are constant in the technology services industry. As a result, we must continue to invest significant resources to stay abreast of technology developments so that we may continue to deliver solutions that our clients will wish to purchase. If we are unable to anticipate technology developments, enhance our existing services or develop and introduce new services to keep pace with such changes and meet changing client needs, we may lose clients and our revenue and results of operations could suffer. Furthermore, our clients may be slow to adapt to emerging technologies or invest in technology services in light of evolving industry trends. For example, in light of the recent advancements in AI, clients have realized that they will need to do significant internal preparatory work prior to implementing new or enhanced systems, which has delayed decision making by our clients and which has impacted, and may continue to impact, our financial performance.
Our results of operations would also suffer if our employees are not responsive to the needs of our clients, not able to help clients in driving innovation and not able to help our clients in effectively bringing innovative ideas to market. The increasing reliance on automation, AI (including machine learning), and other new technologies by our clients may reduce the demand for our services if we are unable to incorporate these technologies into our offering, which may adversely impact our results of operations. In addition, our competitors may be able to offer engineering, design and innovation services that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar or better than those we offer.
14
This may force us to reduce our daily rates and to expend significant resources in order to remain competitive, which we may be unable to do profitably or at all. Because many of our clients and potential clients regularly contract with other IT service providers, these competitive pressures may be more acute than in other industries. If our clients’ demand for our services declines as a result of economic conditions, market factors or shifts in the technology industry, our business would suffer and our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.
We are dependent on members of our senior management team and other key employees.
Our future success heavily depends upon the continued services of our senior management team, particularly our Chief Executive Officer John Cotterell, as well as other key senior-level employees. We currently do not maintain key man life insurance for any of the members of our senior management team or other key employees. We also do not have long-term employment contracts with any of our key employees. We are only entitled to six to 12 months’ prior notice if our executive officers intend to terminate their respective employment with us and three months’ prior notice if any of our other senior executives intend to terminate their respective employment with us. If one or more of our senior executives or key employees are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, it could disrupt our business operations, and we may not be able to replace them easily, on a timely basis or at all. In addition, competition for senior executives and key employees in our industry is intense, and we may be unable to retain our senior executives and key employees or attract and retain new senior executives and key employees in the future, in which case our business may be severely disrupted.
If any of our senior management team or key employees joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose clients, suppliers, know-how and IT professionals and staff members to them. Also, if any of our sales executives or other sales personnel, who generally maintain close relationships with our clients, joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose clients to that company, and our revenue may be materially adversely affected. Additionally, there could be unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge, business practices or procedures by such personnel. Any non-competition, non-solicitation or non-disclosure agreements we have with our senior executives or key employees might not provide effective protection to us in light of legal uncertainties associated with the enforceability of such agreements.
Our business may suffer if we fail to identify and acquire appropriate acquisition targets, and recently completed and potential future acquisitions could prove difficult to integrate or may disrupt our business, dilute shareholder value, strain our resources or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We have completed three acquisitions in the past fiscal year; GalaxE Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries in April 2024, EQ TekSP z.o.o., or EQ Tek, in February 2024 and TLM Partners, Inc. and its subsidiaries in August 2023. If there is a lack of supply of businesses that satisfy our criteria and are willing to be acquired by us, or we fail to successfully acquire such businesses, this may negatively impact our growth targets and progress on strategic goals.
In the future, we may pursue additional acquisition opportunities to enhance our capabilities, client base, geographic reach, country and industry diversification, financial performance and other factors. Realizing the benefits of acquisitions depends in part on the successful integration of operations and personnel. Integrating the operations of acquired businesses successfully or otherwise realizing any of the anticipated benefits of acquisitions, including anticipated cost savings and additional revenue opportunities, is complex and time-consuming and involves a number of potential challenges. These include the effective and timely alignment of the acquired entity’s processes and systems with ours, arranging an external audit of these acquired entities conducted by a reputable independent accounting firm, reviewing the appropriateness of the acquired entities’ key accounting policies, developing accounting systems, and ensuring that appropriate internal controls over these accounting systems are introduced to eventually operate in a regulated SOX environment. The failure to meet these integration challenges could delay full integration of the newly acquired businesses and could seriously harm our financial condition and results of operations.
Past acquisitions and any acquisitions we may complete in the future will give rise to certain risks and we may encounter unexpected difficulties or incur unexpected costs, including:
15
•diversion of management attention from ongoing business concerns to integration matters;
•lack of available staff to perform the integration in a timely manner or inability of staff to perform ongoing business activities due to their integration work;
•consolidating and rationalizing information technology platforms and administrative infrastructures;
•complexities associated with managing the geographic separation of the combined businesses and consolidating multiple physical locations;
•retaining IT professionals and other key employees and achieving minimal unplanned attrition;
•integrating personnel from different corporate cultures while maintaining focus on providing consistent, high quality service;
•demonstrating to our clients and to clients of acquired businesses that the acquisition will not result in adverse changes in client service standards or business focus;
•possible cash flow interruption or loss of profit as a result of transitional matters;
•inability to generate sufficient profit to offset acquisition and integration costs in a reasonable timeframe or at all; and
•inability to achieve the operating synergies anticipated in the acquisitions.
Additionally, acquired businesses may have liabilities or adverse operating issues that we fail to discover through due diligence prior to the acquisition. In particular, to the extent that prior owners of any acquired businesses or properties failed to comply with or otherwise violated applicable laws or regulations, or failed to fulfil their contractual obligations to clients, we, as the successor owner, may be financially responsible for these violations and failures and may suffer financial or reputational harm or otherwise be adversely affected. Acquisitions also frequently result in the recording of goodwill and other intangible assets which are subject to potential impairment in the future that could harm our financial results. We may also become subject to new regulations as a result of an acquisition, including if we acquire a business serving clients in a regulated industry or acquire a business with clients or operations in a country in which we do not already operate. In addition, if we finance acquisitions by issuing convertible debt or equity securities, our existing shareholders may be diluted, which could affect the market price of our ADSs.
As a result, we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of any such acquisitions, and we may incur costs in excess of what we anticipate. Acquisitions frequently involve benefits related to the integration of operations of the acquired business. The failure to successfully integrate the operations or otherwise to realize any of the anticipated benefits of the acquisition could seriously harm our results of operations.
We can offer no assurance that any acquired businesses will prove to be successful and accretive to shareholder value. Among other negative effects, our pursuit of such business opportunities could reduce operating margins, require more working capital, reduce interest income or create interest costs, subject us to additional laws and regulations and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows or results of operations.
Our business will suffer if we are not successful in delivering contracted services.
Our operating results are dependent on our ability to successfully deliver contracted services in a timely manner. We must consistently build, deliver and support complex projects. Failure to perform or observe any contractual obligations, including our inability to comply with local laws and regulations, could damage our relationships with our clients and could result in cancellation or non-renewal of a contract. Some of the challenges we face in delivering contracted services to our clients include:
•maintaining high-quality control and process execution standards;
16
•maintaining planned resource utilization rates on a consistent basis;
•maintaining employee productivity and implementing necessary process improvements;
•controlling costs;
•maintaining close client contact and high levels of client satisfaction;
•maintaining physical and data security standards required by our clients;
•recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of skilled IT professionals; and
•maintaining effective client relationships.
If we are unable to deliver on contracted services, our relationships with our clients will suffer and we may be unable to obtain new projects. In addition, it could damage our reputation, cause us to lose business, impact our margins and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The terms of our revolving credit facility and any further debt we incur may affect our ability to operate our business or secure additional financing in the future.
In February 2023, we entered into a new Multicurrency Revolving Facility Agreement, or the Facility Agreement, with National Westminster Bank plc as agent, or the Agent, HSBC UK Bank plc, DNB (UK) Limited, Keybank National Association, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., London Branch and Fifth Third Bank, National Association as mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and original lenders, providing for an unsecured revolving credit facility in the amount of £350.0 million, or the Facility. The Facility Agreement also provides for an uncommitted accordion option for up to an aggregate of £150.0 million in additional borrowing. As of June 30, 2024, an amount of £144.8 million is outstanding under the Facility.
The Facility Agreement requires us, and any debt instruments we may enter into in the future may require us, to comply with various covenants that limit our ability to, among other things:
•dispose of assets;
•complete mergers or acquisitions;
•incur or guarantee indebtedness;
•sell or encumber certain assets;
•pay dividends or make other distributions to holders of our shares;
•make specified investments;
•engage in different lines of business; and
•engage in certain transactions with affiliates.
Under the terms of the Facility Agreement, we are required to comply with net leverage ratio and interest coverage covenants. Our ability to meet these ratios and covenants can be affected by events beyond our control and we may not meet these ratios and covenants. A failure by us to comply with the ratios or covenants contained in the Facility Agreement could result in an event of default, which could adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business and manage our operations. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, including the occurrence of a material adverse change, the lenders could elect to declare any amounts outstanding to be due and payable and
17
exercise other remedies as set forth in the Facility Agreement. If any indebtedness under our Facility were to be accelerated, our future financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
We may also incur additional indebtedness under different agreements in the future. The instruments governing such indebtedness could contain provisions that are as, or more, restrictive than our existing debt instruments. If we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our indebtedness when payment is due, the lenders could proceed against any collateral granted to them to secure such indebtedness or force us into bankruptcy or liquidation.
We have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, a long selling and implementation cycle with respect to certain projects that require us to make significant resource commitments prior to recognizing revenue for our services.
We have experienced, and may in the future experience, a long selling cycle with respect to certain projects that require significant investment of human resources and time by both our clients and us. Before committing to use our services, potential clients may require us to expend substantial time and resources educating them on the value of our services and our ability to meet their requirements. Therefore, our selling cycle is subject to many risks and delays over which we have little or no control, including our clients’ decision to choose alternatives to our services (such as other technology and IT service providers or in-house resources) and the timing of our clients’ budget cycles and approval processes. If our sales cycle unexpectedly lengthens for one or more projects, it would negatively affect the timing of our revenue and hinder our revenue growth. For certain clients, we may begin work and incur costs prior to executing the contract. A delay in our ability to obtain a signed agreement or other persuasive evidence of an arrangement, or to complete certain contract requirements in a particular quarter, could reduce our revenue in that quarter or render us entirely unable to collect payment for work already performed.
Implementing our services also involves a significant commitment of resources over an extended period of time from both our clients and us. Our clients may experience delays in obtaining internal approvals or delays associated with technology, thereby further delaying the implementation process. Our current and future clients may not be willing or able to invest the time and resources necessary to implement our services, and we may fail to close sales with potential clients to which we have devoted significant time and resources. In addition, it is possible that our current and future clients will try to reduce their investment and dependency on human resources, and, in turn, us, by adopting AI initiatives. We may therefore incur additional costs in delivering these specific AI initiatives. We may therefore incur additional costs in delivering these specific AI or ML environments, specific to each client or prospective client, which may also negatively affect future revenue. Any significant failure to generate revenue or delays in recognizing revenue after incurring costs related to our sales or services process could materially adversely affect our business.
Our business depends on a strong brand and corporate reputation.
Since many of our client engagements involve highly tailored solutions, our corporate reputation is a significant factor in our existing and prospective clients’ determination of whether to engage us. We believe the Endava brand name and our reputation are important corporate assets that help distinguish our services from those of our competitors and also contribute to our efforts to recruit and retain talented IT professionals. However, our corporate reputation is susceptible to damage by actions or statements made by current or former clients or employees, competitors, vendors and adversaries in legal proceedings, as well as members of the investment community and the media. Our reputation may also be damaged if the brand or corporate reputation of one of the companies that we have recently acquired suffers due to actions or statements of this nature being made against the relevant group entity.
In addition, we have made numerous acquisitions in recent periods, which require us to rebrand various parts of our business as we integrate newly acquired companies into our group. Such acquisitions and brand evolutions may result in us having less control over our brand and its reputation. Despite us conducting due diligence prior to making an acquisition, there remains a risk that an unfavorable reputational issue may emerge following the completion of an acquisition.
18
There is a risk that negative information about our company, even if based on false rumor or misunderstanding, could adversely affect our business. In particular, damage to our reputation could be difficult and time-consuming to repair, could make potential or existing clients reluctant to select us for new engagements, resulting in a loss of business, and could adversely affect our employee recruitment and retention efforts. Damage to our reputation could also reduce the value and effectiveness of our Endava brand name and could reduce investor confidence in us and adversely affect our operating results.
We generally do not have long-term commitments from our clients, and our clients may terminate engagements before completion or choose not to enter into new engagements with us.
Our clients generally do not have any long-term commitments to us. Many of our clients can terminate our master services agreements and work orders with or without cause, in some cases with only to 30 days’ prior notice or less. Although a substantial majority of our revenue is typically generated from existing clients, our engagements with our clients are typically for projects that are singular in nature. In addition, large and complex projects may involve multiple engagements or stages, and a client may choose not to retain us for all or additional stages or may cancel or delay planned engagements. Therefore, we must seek to obtain new engagements when our current engagements are successfully completed or are terminated as well as maintain relationships with existing clients and secure new clients to maintain and expand our business.
Even if we successfully deliver on contracted services and maintain long-term relationships with our clients, a number of factors outside of our control could cause the loss of or reduction in business or revenue from our existing clients. These factors include, among other things:
•the business or financial condition of that client or the economy generally;
•a change in strategic priorities by that client, resulting in a reduced level of spending on technology services;
•a demand for price reductions by that client or a demand for prices to remain at existing levels in a period of high inflation;
•mergers, acquisitions or significant corporate restructurings involving that client;
•a decision by that client to move work in-house or to one or several of our competitors; and
•uncertainty and disruption to the global markets including due to disruptions to trade, commerce or supply chain continuity, public health pandemics or geopolitical instability.
The ability of our clients to terminate agreements makes our future revenue uncertain and we may not be able to replace any client that elects to terminate or not renew its contract with us. Further, terminations or delays in engagements may make it difficult to plan our project resource requirements. The loss or diminution in business from any of our clients could have a material adverse effect on our revenue and results of operations.
Our business operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by negative publicity about offshore outsourcing or anti-outsourcing legislation in the countries in which our clients operate.
Concerns that offshore outsourcing has resulted in a loss of jobs and sensitive technologies and information to foreign countries have led to negative publicity concerning outsourcing in some countries. Many organizations and public figures in the United States and Europe have publicly expressed concern about a perceived association between offshore outsourcing IT service providers and the loss of jobs in their home countries. Current or prospective clients may elect to perform services that we offer themselves, or may be discouraged from transferring these services to offshore providers such as ourselves, to avoid any negative perceptions that may be associated with using an offshore provider or for data privacy and security concerns. As a result, our ability to compete effectively with competitors that operate primarily out of facilities located in these countries could be harmed.
Legislation enacted in certain European jurisdictions and any future legislation in Europe or any other country in which we have clients that restricts the performance of services from an offshore location could also materially
19
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, legislation enacted in the United Kingdom, based on the 1977 EC Acquired Rights Directive, has been adopted in some form by some European Union countries, and provides that if a company outsources all or part of its business to an IT services provider or changes its current IT services provider, the affected employees of the company or of the previous IT services provider may automatically transfer to the new IT services provider, generally on the same terms and conditions as their original employment. In addition, dismissals of employees who were employed by the company or the previous IT services provider immediately prior to that transfer are generally considered automatically unfair dismissals that entitle such employees to compensation. As a result, in order to avoid unfair dismissal claims, we may have to offer, and become liable for, voluntary redundancy payments to the employees of our clients who outsource business to us in the United Kingdom and other European Union countries who have adopted similar laws. This legislation could materially affect our ability to obtain new business from companies in the United Kingdom and European Union and to provide outsourced services to companies in the United Kingdom and European Union in a cost-effective manner.
Compliance efforts can be expensive and burdensome, and, we could be subject to regulatory investigations and orders, significant fines and penalties, mitigation and breach notification expenses, private litigation and contractual damages, corrective action plans and related regulatory oversight and reputational harm.
Governments and industry organizations may also adopt new laws, regulations or requirements, or make changes to existing laws or regulations, that could impact the demand for, or value of, our services and/or workforce management. For example, following the recent U.K. general election, the Labour party has formed a new government, and has indicated that it intends to make significant changes to U.K. employment law. This includes, among other things, potential changes to unfair dismissal and collective redundancy laws. These legislative changes are expected to make it more difficult and costly for the company to dismiss employees and increase litigation risks. If we are unable to adapt the solutions we deliver to our clients to changing legal and regulatory standards or other requirements in a timely manner, or if our solutions fail to allow our clients to comply with applicable laws and regulations, our clients may lose confidence in our services and could switch to services offered by our competitors, or threaten or bring legal actions against us.
We have significant fixed costs related to lease facilities and may incur additional expense as we adapt our facilities in response to our transition to a hybrid working model.
We have made and continue to make significant contractual commitments related to our leased facilities. The total lease related expense (net of any related gains and income) included in our financial statements for the 2024 fiscal year was £17.4 million, and we are contractually committed to £16.5 million in such lease expenses for the 2025 fiscal year. These expenses will have a significant impact on our fixed costs, and if we are unable to grow our business and revenue proportionately, or if we are unable to renegotiate these leases, our operating results may be negatively affected.
Additionally, as we continue to move to a hybrid working model allowing for remote work, we may require less office space than we currently have under our leases. Accordingly, we may need to renegotiate our existing leases to reduce or eliminate space or we may be required to terminate those leases early, which could have a negative impact on our operating results. For example, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we recognized £1.9 million in additional one-time property costs due to the early termination of certain leases in locations where we decided to reduce our footprint. The process of renegotiating our existing leases or terminating such leases early could be costly and time consuming and could lead to disputes with existing landlords. We cannot guarantee that any new leases would be on the same or better terms as our current lease arrangements.
Additionally, we plan to make significant changes to our offices to adapt them to new ways of working as we embrace a hybrid working model. This investment could be costly and time consuming as we evolve our plan to meet the requirements and opportunities this new working model presents and to increase our employees’ capabilities, wellness, job satisfaction and productivity under this model. Furthermore, these investments as well as our operating costs, such as utilities, could be negatively impacted by inflation rates and global economic and geopolitical conditions.
20
A significant proportion of our greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions come from the buildings we occupy. In order to achieve our carbon-reduction targets pursuant to any ESG initiatives that we pursue, including the Science Based Targets initiative, we will be required to reduce GHG emissions from the buildings we occupy. Measures to reduce our GHG emissions may include relocating to buildings producing lower GHG emissions and implementing other sustainability measures, all of which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to expand our business and procure new contracts or enter into beneficial business arrangements could be affected to the extent we enter into agreements with clients containing non-competition clauses.
We are a party to a small number of agreements with clients that restrict our ability to perform similar services for such clients’ competitors. We may in the future enter into agreements with clients that restrict our ability to accept assignments from, or render similar services to, those clients’ clients, require us to obtain our clients’ prior written consent to provide services to their clients or restrict our ability to compete with our clients, or bid for or accept any assignment for which those clients are bidding or negotiating. These restrictions may hamper our ability to compete for and provide services to other clients in a specific industry in which we have expertise and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
We may not receive sufficient intellectual property rights from our employees and contractors to comply with our obligations to our clients and we may not be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property.
Our contracts generally require, and our clients typically expect, that we will assign to them all intellectual property rights associated with the deliverables that we create in connection with our engagements. In order to assign these rights to our clients, we must ensure that our employees and contractors validly assign to us all intellectual property rights that they have in such deliverables. Our policy is to require employees and independent contractors to sign assignment of intellectual property agreements with us upon commencement of employment or engagement, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to enforce our rights under such agreements. Given that we operate in a variety of jurisdictions with different and evolving legal regimes, particularly in Central Europe, India and Latin America, we face increased uncertainty regarding whether such agreements will be found to be valid and enforceable by competent courts and whether we will be able to avail ourselves of the remedies provided for by applicable law.
Our success also depends in part on certain methodologies, practices, tools and technical expertise our company utilizes in designing, developing, implementing and maintaining applications and other proprietary intellectual property rights. In order to protect our intellectual property rights, we rely upon a combination of nondisclosure and other contractual arrangements as well as trade secret, copyright, patent and trademark laws. We consider proprietary trade secrets and confidential know-how to be important to our business. However, trade secrets and confidential know-how are difficult to maintain as confidential. To protect this type of information against disclosure or appropriation by competitors, our policy is to require our employees, consultants, contractors and advisors to enter into confidentiality agreements with us. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data, trade secrets and know-how by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies are or will be effective. We cannot guarantee that our trade secrets and other proprietary and confidential information will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets. Current or former employees, consultants, contractors and advisers may unintentionally or willfully disclose our confidential information to competitors, and confidentiality agreements may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and used trade secrets and/or confidential know-how is expensive, time consuming, unpredictable and may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Furthermore, if a competitor lawfully obtained or independently developed any of our trade secrets, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position. If the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating the trade secret.
21
We have registered the “Endava” name and logo in the United Kingdom, the United States and certain other countries. We have pending applications for the “Endava” name and logo in other countries; however, we cannot assure you that any future trademark registrations will be issued for pending or future applications or that any registered trademarks will be enforceable or provide adequate protection of our proprietary rights. Our trademarks may also be subject to misappropriation in jurisdictions in which they are not registered.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that companies we have acquired, our employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property, or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.
We could be subject to claims by third parties that companies we have acquired, our employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property. Many of our employees were previously employed at our competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have used or disclosed confidential information or intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee's former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. In addition, we are subject to additional risks as a result of our recent and future acquisitions. The developers of the technology that we have acquired or may acquire may not have appropriately created, maintained or enforced intellectual property rights in such technology. Indemnification and other rights under acquisition documents may be limited in term and scope and may therefore provide little or no protection from these risks.
If we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel or sustain damages. Such intellectual property rights could be awarded to a third party. Even if we successfully prosecute or defend against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and distract management.
If we incur any liability for a violation of the intellectual property rights of others, our reputation, business, financial condition and prospects may be adversely affected.
Our success largely depends on our ability to use and develop our technology, tools, code, methodologies and services without infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, including patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks. We may be subject to litigation involving claims of patent infringement or violation of other intellectual property rights of third parties. Parties making infringement claims may be able to obtain an injunction to prevent us from delivering our services or using technology involving the allegedly infringing intellectual property. A successful infringement claim against us, whether with or without merit, could, among other things, require us to pay substantial damages, develop substitute non-infringing technology, or rebrand our name or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all, and would require us to cease making, licensing or using products that have infringed a third party’s intellectual property rights. Protracted litigation could also result in existing or potential clients deferring or limiting their purchase or use of our services until resolution of such litigation, or could require us to indemnify our clients against infringement claims in certain instances. Any intellectual property claim or litigation, whether we ultimately win or lose, could damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we typically indemnify clients who purchase our services and solutions against potential infringement of intellectual property rights, which subjects us to the risk of indemnification claims. These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our clients, regardless of the merits of these claims and are often not subject to liability limits or exclusion of consequential, indirect or punitive damages. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of our clients, redesign or cease offering our allegedly infringing services or solutions, or obtain licenses for the intellectual property related to such services or solutions. If we cannot obtain all necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our clients may stop using our services or solutions.
Further, our current and former employees could challenge our exclusive rights to the software they have developed in the course of their employment. In certain countries in which we operate, an employer is deemed to
22
own the copyright work created by its employees during the course, and within the scope, of their employment, but the employer may be required to satisfy additional legal requirements in order to make further use and dispose of such works. While we believe that we have complied with all such requirements, and have fulfilled all requirements necessary to acquire all rights in software developed by our employees and independent contractors, these requirements are often ambiguously defined and enforced. As a result, we may not be successful in defending against any claim by our current or former employees or independent contractors challenging our exclusive rights over the use and transfer of works those employees or independent contractors created or requesting additional compensation for such works.
We use software, hardware and SaaS, technologies from third parties that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or defects in, or failures of, the services or solutions we provide, which could result in material adverse consequences.
We rely on software and hardware from various third parties to deliver our services and solutions, as well as hosted SaaS applications from third parties. If any of these software, hardware or SaaS applications become unavailable due to extended outages, interruptions, cyber-attacks or because they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms, it could result in delays in the provisioning of our services until equivalent technology is either developed by us, or, if available, is identified, obtained and integrated, which could increase our expenses or otherwise harm our business. In addition, any errors or defects in or failures of this third-party software, hardware or SaaS applications could result in errors or defects in or failures of our services and solutions, which could harm our business and be costly to correct. Many of these providers attempt to impose limitations on their liability for such errors, defects or failures, and if enforceable, we may have additional liability to our clients or third-party providers that could harm our reputation and increase our operating costs.
We incorporate third-party open source software into our client deliverables and our failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could adversely impact our clients and create potential liability.
We use open source software extensively in the solutions that we build for our clients and our client deliverables often contain software licensed by third parties under so-called “open source” licenses, including the GNU General Public License, or GPL, the GNU Lesser General Public License, or LGPL, the BSD License, the Apache License and others. Any piece of third-party software, whether proprietary or open source, can contain security flaws which in some cases can result in security vulnerabilities in the applications utilizing them. Though we employ strategies to actively manage our software supply chain for open source software and attempt to minimize these risks, there is no guarantee that these steps will be effective or successful. Any vulnerability in an application that we build for a client could be exploited to subvert the security controls in the system and allow a data breach or other security problem. Such an occurrence could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, client relationship, financial condition or prospects.
In addition, from time to time, there have been claims against companies that distribute or use open source software in their products and services, asserting that such open source software infringes the claimants’ intellectual property rights. Our clients could be subject to suits by third parties claiming that what we believe to be licensed open source software infringes such third parties’ intellectual property rights, and we are generally required to indemnify our clients against such claims. Use of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. In addition, certain open source licenses require that source code for software programs that are subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to such open source software continue to be licensed under the same terms.
Although we monitor our use of open source software in an effort both to comply with the terms of the applicable open source licenses and to avoid subjecting our client deliverables to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by courts in relevant jurisdictions, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our clients’ ability to use the software that we develop for them and operate their businesses as they intend. The terms of certain open source licenses may require us or our clients to release the source code of the software we develop for
23
our clients and to make such software available under the applicable open source licenses. In the event that all or part of client deliverables are determined to be subject to an open source license, we or our clients could be required to publicly release the affected portions of source code (potentially amounting to the entire source code) or re-engineer all, or a portion, of the applicable software. Disclosing our or our client’s proprietary source code could allow our clients’ competitors to create similar products with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of sales for our clients. Any of these events could create liability for us to our clients and damage our reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition and the market price of our ADSs.
Risks Related to Litigation, Regulation and Legislation
Our business and operations could be negatively affected by any pending or future litigation or shareholder activism.
From time to time, we may be subject to litigation, including securities class actions, derivative suits or other securities-related legal actions.
In the past, securities class actions have often been brought against companies following declines in the market prices of their securities. In addition, shareholder activism, which could take many forms and arise in a variety of situations, has been increasing recently. This risk is especially relevant for us because technology companies have experienced significant stock price volatility in recent years. Volatility in our stock price or other reasons may in the future cause us to become the target of securities litigation or shareholder activism. Securities litigation and shareholder activism, could result in substantial costs, including significant legal fees and other expenses, and divert our management and board of directors’ attention and resources from our business. The results of litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments or settlements in some of these legal disputes may result in adverse monetary damages, penalties or injunctive relief against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, cash flows or results of operations.
Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could adversely affect our relationships with clients and business partners, damage our reputation, decrease client demand for our services and make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel, making it more difficult for us to compete effectively. In addition, lawsuits or legal claims involving us may increase our insurance premiums, deductibles or co-insurance requirements or otherwise make it more difficult for us to maintain or obtain adequate insurance coverage on acceptable terms, if at all. Furthermore, while we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable. Even if we believe a claim is covered by insurance, insurers may dispute our entitlement to recovery for a variety of potential reasons, which may affect the timing and, if the insurers prevail, the amount of our recovery. Our exposure under these matters may also include our indemnification obligations, to the extent we have any, to current and former officers and directors against losses incurred in connection with these matters, including reimbursement of legal fees and other expenses.
As a result, future lawsuits involving us, or our officers or directors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and the trading price of our ADSs.
We may be subject to liability claims for actual or perceived breaches of our contracts, which may not contain limitations of liability, and our insurance may be inadequate to cover our losses.
We are subject to numerous obligations, including indemnity obligations, in our contracts with our clients and suppliers. Despite the procedures, systems and internal controls we have implemented to comply with our contracts, we may breach these commitments, whether through a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, a weakness in our procedures, systems and internal controls, inability to prevent acts by third parties, such as cyber threat actors or negligence or the willful act of an employee or contractor. Additionally, a client may make a claim against us because they believe such a breach of contract occurred. Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our contractual obligations, including our privacy and
24
security obligations. We currently carry insurance, including, but not limited to, professional indemnity (errors and omissions) and cyber and data coverage in an amount we consider reasonable and appropriate for all of the services we provide. These insurance policies may be inadequate to insure us for any potential losses that may result from claims arising from breaches of our contracts, security incidents, disruptions in our services, failures or disruptions to our infrastructure, catastrophic events and disasters or otherwise. In addition, such insurance may not be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms, or at all. Further, our insurance may not cover all claims made against us and defending a suit or claim, regardless of its merit, could be costly and divert management’s attention.
We are subject to stringent and evolving laws, regulations, rules, self-regulatory standards, policies, contractual obligations, and other obligations related to data privacy and security, including in the European Union and the United Kingdom, where we have material operations. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could expose us to regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties or other financial liabilities, disruption of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profit, loss of clients or sales and/or adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.
In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, source code, intellectual property, sensitive third-party data, and client data (including proprietary and confidential information of our clients and our clients’ clients, such as their confidential business data and intellectual property). Our data processing activities subject us to numerous laws, rules, regulations, guidance, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, industry standards, and other obligations related to privacy and data security, including in the United Kingdom and European Union, where we have material operations, and other jurisdictions around the world.
European countries have imposed strict laws, regulations, directives and requirements for processing personal data, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or EU GDPR, and the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation, or U.K. GDPR, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002/58/EC, or ePrivacy Directive. For example, both the EU GDPR and/or the U.K. GDPR, together referred to as GDPR, require covered companies to offer individuals certain rights over their personal data (such as the right to be forgotten), impose additional data breach notification requirements, requires companies to appoint data protection officers in certain circumstances, and impose additional recordkeeping obligations, in addition to other requirements. Penalties under these laws (and others) can be severe. In particular, under the GDPR we may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions that could materially adversely impact our operations and ability to do business; fines of up to 20 million Euros or 17.5 million pounds (under the EU GDPR and the U.K. GDPR, respectively) or 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater; or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by individual data subjects or groups of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. Developments and changes in privacy and data security laws in the European Union and United Kingdom, including to the EU GDPR, U.K. GDPR, ePrivacy Directive, and EU or U.K. data breach laws, may more materially affect our operations than developments or changes to such laws in other jurisdictions because the majority of our operations (including employees) are based in the EU and U.K., we are headquartered in the United Kingdom, and we serve clients across Europe. Additionally, we may be subject to various privacy laws in the jurisdictions where we operate, including Australian privacy laws, such as the Privacy Act of 1988, as well as Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, and various related provincial laws, as well as Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, or CASL. We also have operations in Asia, and may be subject to new and emerging data privacy regimes in the region, including Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act or Vietnam Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP on the Protection of Personal Data. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 has been published in India and although an effective date has not yet been set by the government, we may need to undertake substantial changes to our approach to international data transfers, data processing and compliance once it is enforced in the region.
The European Union, United Kingdom and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized, heavily conditioning or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. We may be unable to transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to different countries due to data localization laws, regulations, requirements or limitations on cross-border data flows. Although there are various mechanisms that may be used in
25
some cases to lawfully transfer personal data from the United Kingdom, Europe and other jurisdictions to the different countries, these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges and may not be available to us. A prohibition or material limitation on our ability to transfer personal data to other countries could materially adversely impact our business operations. In particular, on July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the new EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which facilitates international transfers of personal data between the European Union and the United States, for companies that choose to self-certify with the framework and comply with its principles. However, the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework is expected to be subject to legal challenges and could be withdrawn if, for example, it is deemed not to provide an adequate level of protection to EU individuals. It is unclear how data transfers to and from the United States and the European Union will be regulated in the long term, which measures must be put in place for onward transfers to and from the United States and the European Union, and whether or not the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework will provide a long-term solution to managing flows of personal data between the European Union and the United States. Although the United States and the United Kingdom agreed in principle to implement a similar transfer mechanism for data transfers from the United Kingdom to the United States, this mechanism may also be subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we will satisfy or rely on this measure to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States.
Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from Europe to inadequate countries or to U.S.-based companies which did not self-certify to the new EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, such as the standard contractual clauses in the European Union and the United Kingdom, these mechanisms are complex to implement effectively and subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to such countries or recipients. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent data localization and cross-border data transfer laws, or such laws may be stringently interpreted by regulators. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the United Kingdom, Europe or other jurisdictions to different countries, or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face materially adverse consequences, including the interruption or degradation of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and penalties, the inability to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and injunctions against our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Notably, some European regulators have prevented companies from transferring personal data out of Europe for allegedly violating GDPR and the EU’s cross-border data transfer limitations. Additionally, some of our client contracts may require us to host personal data locally, and this further complicates our ability to transfer and process personal data in order to provide our services, operate and earn revenue.
In the United States, federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous privacy and data security laws, including consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), data breach notification laws, and personal data privacy laws. For example, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA imposes specific requirements relating to the privacy, security, and transmission of individually identifiable health information, including on entities such as ours which are business associates under HIPAA. Various states have also implemented laws regulating the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information. Additionally, some of our U.S. healthcare industry clients may rely on our solutions to protect information as required by HIPAA and related regulations. As another example, the California Consumer Privacy Act, the CCPA, applies to personal information of consumers, business representatives, and employees who are California residents, and requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and honor requests of such individuals to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for administrative fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages. Other states, such as Virginia, Utah, Connecticut and Colorado, have also passed comprehensive privacy laws, and similar laws are being considered in several other states. These developments may further complicate compliance efforts, and may increase legal risk and compliance costs for us, the third parties with whom we work, and our clients. Additionally, privacy and data security laws have been proposed at the federal, state, and local levels in recent years, which could further complicate compliance efforts. Recently, under the current EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, the U.S. federal government has made a commitment
26
to expand data subject rights with the opportunity to seek judicial redress. This material change to previous iterations of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework may lead to an increased number of privacy disputes.
Our use of generative AI tools is also subject to privacy and data security laws. For further information, see risk factor “We use generative AI tools in our operations, which may result in significant operational challenges, liability and reputational harm.”
In addition to privacy and data security laws, we are contractually subject to industry standards adopted by industry groups and we are, or may become, subject to such obligations in the future. We are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. For example, certain privacy laws, such as the GDPR and the CCPA, require our clients to impose specific contractual restrictions on their processors or service providers. We publish privacy policies, marketing materials and other statements, such as compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, including to our clients and others regarding data privacy and security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences.
Obligations related to privacy and data security are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating regulatory uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources. These obligations may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties with whom we work may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations.
Any failure or perceived failure by us or the third parties with whom we work to comply with applicable privacy or data security obligations could result in significant consequences, including governmental investigations and enforcement actions (e.g., fines, penalties, audits, inspections, and similar), litigation (including class-action claims) or other claims, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight, bans on processing personal data, orders to destroy or not use personal data, and fines and penalties. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly more active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these claims allow for the recovery of statutory damages on a per violation basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory damages, depending on the volume of data and the number of violations. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business or financial condition, including but not limited to: adverse publicity, loss of trust in us by our clients and partners, reputational harm, inability to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions, expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry, and interruptions or stoppages in our business operations.
Our performance and reputation could be adversely affected by increased focus on and demands from clients, investors and regulators with respect to ESG issues and we may be criticized or penalized for the timing, nature or scope of our ESG disclosures as regulatory standards evolve.
There is an increasing focus from regulators, certain investors, and other stakeholders concerning matters relating to ESG factors. ESG includes not only environmental issues but also human rights, diversity, responsible supply chain management, ethics, cybersecurity and privacy concerns. We communicate certain ESG-related initiatives and commitments regarding environmental matters, diversity and other matters on our website and elsewhere, including in our annual Sustainability Report.
Our ability to achieve our ESG commitments may be subject to numerous risks, many of which are beyond our control and which may result in us failing to achieve, or be perceived to fail to achieve, our ESG-related initiatives or commitments. We may struggle to secure required resources and related technologies or suppliers that can meet our standards. We may incur substantial costs for environmental regulatory compliance and other ESG initiatives. If we fail to achieve our targets or are perceived to fail to do so, our reputation, business and operations may be adversely affected.
27
Standards for tracking and reporting ESG metrics, including proposed disclosure requirements from the SEC and other regulators, continue to evolve and may change over time, which could result in significant revisions to our current goals, reported progress in achieving such goals or ability to achieve such goals in the future, as well as increased costs, internal controls, and oversight obligations. Furthermore, our processes and controls for reporting ESG metrics across our operations and supply chain are evolving along with multiple disparate standards for identifying, measuring and reporting ESG metrics. We could be criticized for revisions to the timing, scope or nature of our ESG disclosures, or to the extent that our disclosures about ESG matters increase, we could be criticized for the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of such disclosures.
Certain market participants, including major institutional investors and capital providers, use third-party benchmarks and scores to assess companies’ ESG profiles in making investment or voting decisions. Our actual or perceived ESG-related initiatives, policies or commitments and any failure to achieve them could result in unfavorable ESG ratings and/or negatively impact our reputation, and result in ESG-focused investors not purchasing and holding our ADSs. This could negatively impact our share price and our access and cost of capital, or otherwise materially harm our business. We risk divestment and challenges to corporate practices and policies if our ESG practices do not meet the expectations of our existing investors.
From time to time, some of our employees spend significant amounts of time at our clients’ facilities, often in foreign jurisdictions, which expose us to certain risks.
Some of our projects require a portion or all of the work to be undertaken at our clients’ facilities, which are often located outside our employees’ country of residence. The ability of our employees to work in locations around the world may depend on their ability to obtain the required visas and work permits, and this process can be lengthy and difficult. Immigration laws are subject to legislative change, as well as to variations in standards of application and enforcement due to political forces and economic conditions. In addition, we may become subject to taxation and employment laws in jurisdictions where we would not otherwise be so subject as a result of the amount of time that our employees spend in any such jurisdiction in any given year. While we seek to monitor the number of days that our employees spend in each country to minimize such tax and employment liabilities, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in these efforts.
To the extent our employees and contractors are able to work at our clients’ facilities, we may incur risks relating to our employees and contractors’ presence at our clients’ facilities, including, but not limited to: claims of misconduct, negligence or intentional malfeasance on the part of our employees. Some or all of these claims may lead to litigation, liabilities, and negative publicity. It is not possible to predict the outcome of these lawsuits or any other proceeding, and our insurance may not cover any or all claims that may be asserted against us.
Claims of U.S. civil liabilities may not be enforceable against us.
We are incorporated under English law. Substantially all of our assets are located outside the United States. The majority of our senior management and board of directors reside outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon such persons or to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against them or us, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws.
The United States and the United Kingdom do not currently have a treaty providing for recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters. Consequently, a final judgment for payment given by a court in the United States, whether or not predicated solely upon U.S. securities laws, would not automatically be recognized or enforceable in the United Kingdom. In addition, uncertainty exists as to whether U.K. courts would entertain original actions brought in the United Kingdom against us or our directors or senior management predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. Any final and conclusive monetary judgment for a definite sum obtained against us in U.S. courts would be treated by the courts of the United Kingdom as a cause of action in itself and sued upon as a debt at common law so that no retrial
28
of the issues would be necessary, provided that certain requirements are met. Whether these requirements are met in respect of a judgment based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities laws, including whether the award of monetary damages under such laws would constitute a penalty, is an issue for the court making such decision. If an English court gives judgment for the sum payable under a U.S. judgment, the English judgment will be enforceable by methods generally available for this purpose. These methods generally permit the English court discretion to prescribe the manner of enforcement.
As a result, U.S. investors may not be able to enforce against us or our senior management, board of directors or certain experts named herein who are residents of the United Kingdom or countries other than the United States any judgments obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters, including judgments under the U.S. federal securities laws.
Risks Related to Our Global Operations
Our revenue, margins, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected if general economic conditions in Europe, the United States or the global economy worsen.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue from clients located in Europe and the United States. The technology services industry is particularly sensitive to the economic environment, and tends to decline during general economic downturns. If the U.S. or European economies continue to weaken or slow, including as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, any impact of the Israel-Hamas war and related economic sanctions, or if the global economic slowdown persists or exacerbates, pricing for our services may be depressed and our clients may reduce or postpone their technology spending significantly, which may, in turn, lower the demand for our services and negatively affect our revenue and profitability. We have, in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and June 30, 2023, experienced a slowing in demand for our services from clients in North America and United Kingdom, particularly from the private equity-backed companies in these geographies, due to a weakened economic outlook and global markets instability, and if this continues in the near to medium term, we may suffer declines in revenue and profitability. This may negatively impact investor perception of our company and could significantly impact our share price.
A weak or declining economy could also cause our clients to delay making payments for our services. Additionally, any weakening or failure of banking institutions or banking systems, which could be caused by a weakening or slowdown of the U.S., European or global economies, could adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition and negatively impact our ability to receive and make payments. If we are unable to successfully anticipate changing economic and political conditions affecting the markets in which we operate, we may be unable to effectively plan for or respond to those changes, and our results of operations could be adversely affected.
Increased inflation rates in the regions in which we operate may reduce our margins, profitability and financial performance.
Economies in many regions in which we operate, including the United States and Europe, have experienced over the past financial year, or are currently experiencing, higher rates of inflation. Periods of higher inflation may slow economic growth and significantly impact our results of operations. To the extent inflation causes costs to increase, including wages, rents, leases and employee benefit payments, such inflation may materially adversely affect our financial results and business as it may erode our profitability. We may be unable to raise our prices in line with increased inflation and fail to pass on the costs of increased inflation to our clients. As a result, this may reduce our gross margins and profitability.
Fluctuations in currency exchange rates could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We have operations in a number of countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates,
29
the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay and Vietnam, and we serve clients across Europe, North America and the rest of the world, or RoW. As a result of the international scope of our operations, fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly between the British Pound, our reporting currency, and the Euro and U.S. dollar, may adversely affect us. Currency fluctuations related to the current geopolitical climate, notably in Europe but also, to a lesser degree, globally, had a significant impact on our financial results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, 31.5% of our sales were denominated in the British Pound, 35.6% of our sales were denominated in U.S. dollars, 22.8% were denominated in Euros and the balance were in other currencies. Conversely, during the same time period, 67.4% of our expenses were denominated in Euros (or in currencies that largely follow the Euro, including the RON) or U.S. dollars. As a result, strengthening of the Euro or U.S. dollar relative to the British Pound presents the most significant currency-related risk to us. Any significant fluctuations in currency exchange rates may have a material impact on our business.
Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and the price of our ADSs.
The global economy, including credit and financial markets, has in recent years experienced significant volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates, high levels of inflation and interest fluctuations, disruptions in access to bank deposits or lending commitments due to bank failures and uncertainty about economic stability. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread unemployment, economic slowdown and extreme volatility in the capital markets. Similarly, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic sanctions and the Israel-Hamas war have created significant volatility in the global capital markets and resulted in adverse global economic consequences, including disruptions of the global supply chain and energy markets. Because we have global operations, any such volatility in and disruptions to global macroeconomic conditions has impacted and, may in the future adversely impact, our operations and financial condition, that of our clients and/or the third parties on whom we rely. If the equity and credit markets deteriorate, including as a result of political unrest or war, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult to obtain in a timely manner or on favorable terms, more costly or more dilutive. Increased inflation rates can adversely affect us by increasing our costs, including labor and employee benefit costs. In addition, higher inflation could also increase our clients’ operating costs, which could result in reduced budgets for our clients and potentially less demand for our products and services. Consistent high inflation and any related high interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our international operations involve risks that could increase our expenses, adversely affect our results of operations and require increased time and attention from our management.
As of June 30, 2024, approximately 40.6% of our employees work in nearshore delivery centers in European Union countries, 8.2% in delivery centers in South-East Asia, 11.2% in delivery centers in Latin America, and 9.2% in delivery centers in India. We have operations in 29 countries, and we serve clients globally. As a result, we may be subject to risks inherently associated with international operations. Our global operations expose us to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal, tax and regulatory requirements, and violations or unfavorable interpretation by the respective authorities of these regulations could harm our business. Risks associated with international operations include difficulties in enforcing contractual rights, potential difficulties in collecting accounts receivable, the burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, repatriation of earnings or capital and the risk of asset seizures by foreign governments. In addition, we may face competition in other countries from companies that may have more experience with operations in such countries or with international operations. Such companies may have long-standing or well-established relationships with desired clients, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage. We may also face difficulties integrating new facilities in different countries into our existing operations, as well as integrating employees that we hire in different countries into our existing corporate culture. As a global company, our performance may also be affected by global economic conditions as well as rising geopolitical tensions, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and other conditions with global reach. Our international expansion plans may not be successful and we may not be able to compete effectively in other countries. These factors could impede the success of our international expansion plans and limit our ability to compete effectively in other countries. Additionally,
30
addressing the operational and other challenges posed by our international operations will require significant time and attention from management.
Our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by the various conflicting legal and regulatory requirements imposed on us by the countries where we operate.
Since we maintain operations and provide services to clients throughout the world, we are subject to numerous, and sometimes conflicting, legal requirements on matters as diverse as import/export controls, content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, sanctions, government affairs, anti-bribery, whistle blowing, internal and disclosure control obligations, data protection and privacy and labor relations. Our failure to comply with these regulations in the conduct of our business could result in fines, penalties, criminal sanctions against us or our officers, disgorgement of profits, prohibitions on doing business, unfavorable publicity, adverse impact on our reputation and allegations by our clients that we have not performed our contractual obligations. Due to the varying degree of development of the legal systems of the countries in which we operate, local laws might be insufficient to defend us and preserve our rights.
We are also subject to risks relating to compliance with a variety of national and local laws including multiple tax regimes, labor laws, employee health safety and wages and benefits laws. We may, from time to time, be subject to litigation or administrative actions resulting from claims against us by current or former employees individually or as part of class actions, including claims of wrongful terminations, discrimination, misclassification or other violations of labor law or other alleged conduct. We may also, from time to time, be subject to litigation resulting from claims against us by third parties, including claims of breach of non-compete and confidentiality provisions of our employees’ former employment agreements with such third parties. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition.
Many commercial laws and regulations in Central Europe and Latin America are relatively new and have been subject to limited interpretation. As a result, their application can be unpredictable. Government authorities have a high degree of discretion in certain countries in which we have operations and at times have exercised their discretion in ways that may be perceived as selective or arbitrary. These governments also have the power, in certain circumstances, to interfere with the performance of, nullify or terminate contracts. Selective or arbitrary actions have included withdrawal of licenses, sudden and unexpected tax audits, criminal prosecutions and civil actions. In this environment, our competitors could receive preferential treatment from the government, potentially giving them a competitive advantage, which may in turn materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Changes and uncertainties in the tax system in the countries in which we have operations could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We conduct business globally and file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions. Our consolidated effective income tax rate could be materially adversely affected by several factors, including: changing tax laws (such as the increase in the headline rate of corporation tax in the United Kingdom), regulations and treaties, or the interpretation thereof; tax policy initiatives and reforms under consideration (such as those related to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s, or OECD, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, or BEPS, Project, the European Commission’s state aid investigations and other initiatives); the practices of tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate and jurisdictions in which our clients operate; the cancellation of or alteration to relevant tax incentive regimes; the resolution of issues arising from tax audits or examinations and any related interest or penalties. Such changes may include (but are not limited to) the taxation of operating income, investment income, dividends received or (in the specific context of withholding tax) dividends paid.
In particular, there have been significant changes to the taxation systems in Central European countries and also in Argentina and the United States in recent years as the authorities have gradually replaced or introduced new legislation regulating the application of major taxes such as corporate income tax, VAT, corporate property tax, personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The post-Brexit deal that the United Kingdom agreed with the European Union did not include an exemption from withholding tax on dividends between U.K. and E.U. resident group members, and Romanian dividend withholding tax rates have been increased, and so profits recognized by us in
31
Romania are now subject to an 8% withholding tax on distributions to us. The headline rate of corporation tax in the United Kingdom increased from 19% to 25% from April 2023. In addition, the new rules based on OECD proposals, commonly referred to as “BEPS 2.0,” will make important changes to the international tax system, by allocating taxing rights in respect of certain profits of multinational enterprises above a fixed profit margin to the jurisdictions within which they carry on business (subject to threshold rules) and imposing a minimum effective tax rate on certain multinational enterprises. In particular, the OECD is coordinating the implementation of rules to be adopted for taxing the digital economy, specifically with respect to nexus and profit allocation (Pillar One), and for a global minimum tax (Pillar Two), the latter rules having been implemented in a number of jurisdictions with effect from January 1, 2024.
We are unable to predict what tax reforms may be proposed or enacted in the future or what effect such changes would have on our business, but such changes, to the extent they are brought into tax legislation, regulations, policies or practices in jurisdictions in which we operate, could increase the estimated tax liability that we have expensed to date and paid or accrued on our balance sheets, and otherwise affect our financial position, future results of operations, cash flows in a particular period and overall or effective tax rates in the future in countries where we have operations, reduce post-tax returns to our shareholders and increase the complexity, burden and cost of tax compliance.
There may be adverse tax and employment law consequences if the independent contractor status of some of our personnel or the exempt status of our employees is successfully challenged.
We retain certain of our workforce as independent contractors, which has increased due to our recent acquisitions, and the determination of whether an individual is considered an independent contractor or an employee typically varies by jurisdiction and depends on the interpretation of the applicable laws. If there is a change in law or regulation, such as the changes to the rules often referred to as “IR35” or the “off-payroll working rules” in the United Kingdom that took effect from April 2021, or if a government authority or court makes a determination with respect to the requirements for being an independent contractor that differs from our approach either generally or specifically against an independent contractor who works for us, then we could incur significant costs. These could include increased employee benefits costs as well as withholding and other taxes (and potentially interest and penalties), and could apply to previous periods. Furthermore, any such change in law or regulation or government or court determination could negatively impact how we structure our business and who we hire, which along with any increase in our costs, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and increase the difficulty in attracting and retaining personnel.
Tax authorities may disagree with our positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, or may apply existing rules in an arbitrary or unforeseen manner, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realization of expected benefits.
A tax authority may disagree with tax positions that we have taken, which could result in increased tax liabilities. For example, His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or another tax authority could challenge our allocation of income by tax jurisdiction and the amounts paid between our affiliated companies pursuant to our intercompany arrangements and transfer pricing policies, including methodologies for valuing developed technology and amounts paid with respect to our intellectual property development. If such a challenge or disagreement were to occur, and our position was not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest, and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows, and lower overall profitability of our operations. Our financial statements could fail to reflect adequate reserves to cover such a contingency. For example, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, HMRC initiated an inquiry into our claims relating to the U.K.’s Research and Development Expenditure Credit, or RDEC, program in relation to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. Our tax years from June 30, 2016 onward remain open to inspection by HMRC. The total value of these RDEC claims through fiscal year ending June 30, 2024 is approximately £18.5 million, net of tax. As of June 30, 2024, no provision has been recorded in the consolidated financial statements related to this inquiry and a contingent liability has been disclosed.
Similarly, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable connection, often referred to as a “permanent establishment” under international tax treaties,
32
and such an assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions. Tax authorities in certain countries can be aggressive in their interpretation of tax laws (which can have inherent ambiguities), as well as in their enforcement and collection activities.
For example, a tax authority may take the position that material income tax liabilities, interest and penalties are payable by us, where there has been a technical violation of contradictory laws and regulations that are relatively new and have not been subject to extensive review or interpretation, in which case we expect that we might contest such assessment. High-profile companies can be particularly vulnerable to aggressive application of unclear requirements. Many companies must negotiate their tax bills with tax inspectors who may demand higher taxes than applicable law appears to provide. Contesting such an assessment may be lengthy and costly and if we were unsuccessful in disputing the assessment, this could increase our anticipated effective tax rate, where applicable.
We do not anticipate being treated as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for the current taxable year, but this conclusion is a factual determination that is made annually and thus may be subject to change. If we were to qualify as a PFIC, this could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences to certain U.S. holders.
Generally, if, for any taxable year, at least 75% of our gross income is passive income, or on average at least 50% of the value of our assets is attributable to assets that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income, including cash, we would be characterized as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For purposes of these tests, passive income generally includes dividends, interest, and gains from the sale or exchange of investment property and rents and royalties other than rents and royalties which are received from unrelated parties in connection with the active conduct of a trade or business. Our status as a PFIC depends on the composition of our income and the composition and value of our assets (for which purpose the total value of our assets may be determined in part by the market value of our ADSs, which are subject to change from time to time). Additionally, we generally are treated as holding and receiving directly our proportionate share of the assets and income, respectively, of any corporation in which we own, directly or indirectly, 25% of its stock by value. If we are characterized as a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs, the U.S. holder of our ADSs may suffer adverse U.S. tax consequences, including having gains realized on the sale of our ADSs treated as ordinary income, rather than capital gain, the loss of the preferential rate applicable to dividends received on our ADSs by individuals who are U.S. holders, and having interest charges apply to distributions by us and gains from the sale of our ADSs, and additional tax reporting requirements, regardless of whether we continue to be a PFIC.
Although PFIC status is determined on an annual basis and generally cannot be determined until the end of the taxable year, based on the nature of our current and expected income and the current and expected value and composition of our assets, we believe we were not a PFIC for our 2023 tax year and we do not expect to be a PFIC for our current taxable year. However, our status as a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis after the end of each taxable year, and we cannot provide any assurances regarding our PFIC status for the current, prior or future taxable years, and our U.S. counsel expresses no opinion with respect to our PFIC status for any taxable year. See “Taxation—U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders—Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules” for a further discussion of the PFIC rules.
If we are (or any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries is) a “controlled foreign corporation,” certain U.S. Holders may suffer adverse tax consequences.
If a “United States person” for U.S. federal income tax purposes is treated as owning (directly, indirectly, or constructively) at least 10% of the total value or total combined voting power of our stock, such person may be treated as a “United States shareholder” with respect to each “controlled foreign corporation,” or CFC, in our group (if any). A non-U.S. corporation will be a CFC if United States shareholders own (directly, indirectly, or constructively) more than 50% of the total value or total combined voting power of the stock of the non-U.S. corporation. Because our group includes one or more U.S. corporate subsidiaries, certain of our current or future non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries could be treated as CFCs (regardless of whether we are treated as a CFC). A United States shareholder of a CFC may be required to report annually and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of the CFC’s “Subpart F income,” “global intangible low-taxed income,” and investments of earnings in U.S. property (regardless of whether the CFC makes any distributions to its shareholders). Additionally, an individual
33
United States shareholder with respect to a CFC generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a corporate United States shareholder. A failure to comply with CFC reporting obligations may subject a United States shareholder to significant monetary penalties and prevent the statute of limitations from running with respect to the United States shareholder’s U.S. federal income tax return for the taxable year in which reporting was due. There can be no assurance that we will assist our U.S. shareholders in determining whether we are (or any of our current or future non-U.S. subsidiaries is) treated as a CFC or whether such U.S. shareholders are treated as United States shareholders with respect to any such CFCs, or that we will furnish to any United States shareholders information that may be necessary to comply with CFC reporting and tax paying obligations. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the CFC rules in their particular circumstances.
Emerging markets are subject to greater risks than more developed markets, and financial turmoil in any emerging market could disrupt our business.
Certain countries in South Asia, Central Europe and Latin America are generally considered to be emerging markets, which are subject to rapid change and greater legal, economic and political risks than more established markets. Financial problems or an increase in the perceived risks associated with investing in emerging economies could dampen foreign investment in South East Asia, Central Europe and Latin America and adversely affect the economy of the region. Political instability could result in a worsening overall economic situation, including capital flight and slowdown of investment and business activity. Current and future changes in governments of the countries in which we have or develop operations, as well as major policy shifts or lack of consensus between various branches of the government and powerful economic groups, could lead to political instability and disrupt or reverse political, economic and regulatory reforms, which could materially adversely affect our business and operations in those countries. In addition, political and economic relations between certain of the countries in which we operate are complex, and recent conflicts have arisen between certain of their governments. Political, ethnic, religious, historical and other differences have, on occasion, given rise to tensions and, in certain cases, military conflicts among Central European, Latin American or South East Asian countries which can halt normal economic activity and disrupt the economies of neighboring regions. The emergence of new or escalated tensions in South East Asia, Central European or Latin American countries could further exacerbate tensions between such countries and the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, which may have a negative effect on their economy, our ability to develop or maintain our operations in those countries and our ability to attract and retain employees, any of which could materially adversely affect our business and operations.
In addition, banking and other financial systems in certain countries in which we have operations are less developed and regulated than in some more developed markets, and legislation relating to banks and bank accounts is subject to varying interpretations and inconsistent application. Banks in these regions often do not meet the banking standards of more developed markets, and the transparency of the banking sector lags behind international standards. Furthermore, in certain countries in which we operate, bank deposits made by corporate entities generally either are not insured or are insured only to specified limits. As a result, the banking sector remains subject to periodic instability. Another banking crisis, or the bankruptcy or insolvency of banks through which we receive or with which we hold funds may result in the loss of our deposits or adversely affect our ability to complete banking transactions in certain countries in which we have operations, which could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.
Wage inflation and other compensation expense for our IT professionals could adversely affect our financial results.
Wage costs for IT professionals in South East Asia, Central European, Latin American countries and in India are typically lower than comparable wage costs in more developed countries. However, wage costs in the technology services industry in these countries may increase at a faster rate than in the past and wage inflation for the IT industry may be higher than overall wage inflation within these countries. We may need to increase the levels of employee compensation more rapidly than in the past to remain competitive, and we may not be able to pass on these increased costs to our clients. In addition, we have observed increased wage expectations on a global scale due to inflation and adverse global economic conditions. Such wage expectations could create challenges for our recruiting efforts in light of profitability considerations and margin expectations. Unless we are able to continue to
34
increase the efficiency and productivity of our employees as well as the prices we can charge for our services, wage inflation may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
In the future, in certain locations, we may be required to report on and remedy any gender pay gaps identified, resulting in wage pressure in such locations. The EU recently adopted a new Equal Pay and Pay Transparency Directive, or the Directive, which EU Member States must implement by June 1, 2026. Under this Directive, employers with 100 or more employees must report on gender pay gap on various types of remuneration (including complementary and variable pay) across categories of workers who perform either the same work or work of “equal value”. Based on current headcounts, we would be subject to such reporting obligations in several Central European locations as well as Germany. In the event that our gender pay gap reports identify any gaps that are not based on objective and gender-neutral factors, the business would need to remedy the situation within a “reasonable period of time” in cooperation with worker representatives, local labor inspectorates and/or local equality bodies. Workers may be entitled to claim compensation for all losses sustained and penalties may also be imposed (as will be set by Member States’ legislation). This could potentially expose us to significant liability. Although the Directive does not yet apply to us, as we prepare for its implementation in the relevant locations we may be required to increase wages where we identify any potential non-compliance with the directive, increasing wage pressure in certain locations.
We are subject to the U.K. Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, import and customs laws, trade and economic sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations.
Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, including the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or the Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. §201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business. The Bribery Act, the FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us, our employees and intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper or prohibited payments, or anything else of value, to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. Under the Bribery Act, we may also become liable for failing to prevent a person associated with us from committing a bribery offense. We operate in a number of jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential Bribery Act or FCPA violations. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, and authorities in the European Union, applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons, including those administered by H.M. Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC, anti-money laundering laws, anti-fraud laws, import and customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the Trade Control laws. We may not be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all such applicable laws, which could result in our being subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of such laws by United Kingdom, United States or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Being a Public Company, Ownership of Our ADSs, and Other General Risks
If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired, and the trading price of our ADSs may be negatively impacted.
As a public company, we are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment is required to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting identified by our management. We are also required to
35
have our independent registered public accounting firm issue an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis.
We have in the past identified, and may in the future identify, material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. To the extent we identify material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future.
Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude in the future that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our ADSs could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the New York Stock Exchange, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.
The price of our ADSs may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.
The trading price of our ADSs has fluctuated and is likely to continue to fluctuate. The trading price of our ADSs depends on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance, including:
•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results;
•variance in our financial performance from expectations of securities analysts;
•changes in the prices of our services;
•changes in our projected operating and actual financial results;
•changes in laws or regulations applicable to our business;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant business developments, acquisitions or new offerings;
•our involvement in any litigation, including class action lawsuits;
•our sale of our ADSs or other securities in the future;
•changes in senior management or key personnel;
•the trading volume of our ADSs;
•changes in the anticipated future size and growth rate of our market;
•natural disasters and pandemics;
•international conflicts and war, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, acts of terrorism and other events beyond our control; and
•general economic, regulatory, political and market conditions.
36
The market for technology stocks and the stock market in general have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations in recent periods that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies, including our own. These fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, regulatory and market conditions, may negatively impact the market price of equity securities, including our ADSs. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their securities have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future, which could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention.
Sales of our ADSs by existing shareholders could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of our ADSs in the public market by our existing shareholders, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our ADSs and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. This risk may be exacerbated following the expiration of certain conversion restrictions applicable to our Class B ordinary shares in July 2023, which enables any holder of Class B ordinary shares to convert such shares to Class A ordinary shares and sell the Class A ordinary shares as ADSs in the market. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our ADSs, particularly if our founding shareholders and/or executives seek to reduce their interest in Endava.
In addition, as of June 30, 2024, there were outstanding 4,324,717 Class A ordinary shares issuable by us upon exercise of outstanding share options or the vesting of restricted share units, or RSUs. We have registered all of the ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding options or the vesting of RSUs, and upon exercise of settlement of any options or other equity incentives we may grant in the future, for public resale under the Securities Act. Accordingly, these shares will be able to be freely sold in the public market upon issuance as permitted by any applicable vesting requirements, subject to restrictions on sales of our shares by affiliates.
Shareholder protections found in provisions under the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Code, will not apply if our place of management and control is considered to change to outside the United Kingdom.
The Takeover Code applies to all offers for public limited companies incorporated in England and Wales which have their registered offices in the United Kingdom and which are considered by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Panel, to have their place of central management and control in the United Kingdom.
On July 6, 2018, we re-registered as a public limited company incorporated in England and Wales. Our place of central management and control was at that time, and remains, in the United Kingdom for the purposes of the Takeover Code. Accordingly, we are currently subject to the Takeover Code and, as a result, our shareholders are entitled to the benefit of the various protections provided under the Takeover Code. The Takeover Code provides a framework within which takeovers of companies are regulated and conducted. If, at the time of a takeover offer, the Takeover Panel determines that we do not have our place of central management and control in the United Kingdom, then the Takeover Code would not apply to us and our shareholders would not be entitled to the benefit of the various protections that the Takeover Code affords. In particular, the rules regarding mandatory takeover bids described below would not apply. The following is a brief summary of some of the most important rules of the Takeover Code:
•When any person acquires, whether by a series of transactions over a period of time or not, an interest in shares which (taken together with shares already held by that person and an interest in shares held or acquired by persons acting in concert with them) carry 30% or more of the voting rights of a company that is subject to the Takeover Code, that person is generally required to make a mandatory offer to all the holders of any class of equity share capital or other class of transferable securities carrying voting rights in that company to acquire the balance of their interests in the company.
•When any person who, together with persons acting in concert with them, is interested in shares representing not less than 30% but does not hold more than 50% of the voting rights of a company that is subject to the Takeover Code, and such person, or any person acting in concert with them, acquires an
37
additional interest in shares which increases the percentage of shares carrying voting rights in which they are interested, then such person is generally required to make a mandatory offer to all the holders of any class of equity share capital or other class of transferable securities carrying voting rights of that company to acquire the balance of their interests in the company.
•A mandatory offer triggered in the circumstances described in the two paragraphs above must be in cash (or be accompanied by a cash alternative) and at not less than the highest price paid within the preceding 12 months to acquire any interest in shares in the company by the person required to make the offer or any person acting in concert with them.
•In relation to a voluntary offer (i.e., any offer which is not a mandatory offer), when interests in shares representing 10% or more of the shares of a class have been acquired for cash by an offeror (i.e., a bidder) and any person acting in concert with it in the offer period and the previous 12 months, the offer must be in cash or include a cash alternative for all shareholders of that class at not less than the highest price paid for any interest in shares of that class by the offeror and by any person acting in concert with it in that period. Further, if an offeror acquires for cash any interest in shares during the offer period, a cash alternative must be made available at not less than the highest price paid for any interest in the shares of that class.
•The board of directors of the offeror or any person acting in concert with it acquires an interest in shares in the offeree company (i.e., the target) at a price higher than the value of the offer, the offer must be increased to not less than the highest price paid for the interest in shares so acquired.
•The offeree company must obtain competent advice as to whether the terms of any offer are fair and reasonable and the substance of such advice must be made known to all the shareholders, together with the opinion of the board of directors of the offeree company.
•Special deals with favorable conditions for selected shareholders are not permitted.
•All shareholders must be given the same information.
•Each document published in connection with an offer by or on behalf of the offeror or offeree must state that the directors of the offeror or the offeree, as the case may be, accept responsibility for the information contained therein.
•Profit forecasts, quantified financial benefits statements and asset valuations must be made to specified standards and must be reported on by professional advisers.
•Misleading, inaccurate or unsubstantiated statements made in documents or to the media must be publicly corrected immediately.
•Actions during the course of an offer by the offeree company, which might frustrate the offer, are generally prohibited unless shareholders approve these plans.
•Stringent and detailed requirements are laid down for the disclosure of dealings in relevant securities during an offer.
•Employee representatives or employees of both the offeror and the offeree company and the trustees of the offeree company’s pension scheme must be informed about an offer. In addition, the offeree company’s employee representatives and pension scheme trustees have the right to have a separate opinion on the effects of the offer on employment and pension scheme(s), respectively, appended to the offeree board of directors’ circular or published on a website.
The dual class structure of our ordinary shares has the effect of concentrating voting control for the foreseeable future, which will limit your ability to influence corporate matters.
Our Class B ordinary shares have 10 votes per share, and our Class A ordinary shares, which are the shares underlying the ADSs have one vote per share. Given the greater number of votes per share attributed to our Class B
38
ordinary shares, holders of Class B ordinary shares collectively beneficially hold shares representing approximately 76.3% of the voting rights of our outstanding share capital as of August 15, 2024. Further, John Cotterell, our Chief Executive Officer, beneficially holds Class B ordinary shares, which along with the Class A ordinary shares he beneficially owns, represents approximately 45.2% of the voting rights of our outstanding share capital as of August 15, 2024. Consequently, Mr. Cotterell will continue to be able to have a significant influence on corporate matters submitted to a vote of shareholders. Notwithstanding this concentration of control, we do not currently qualify as a “controlled company” under New York Stock Exchange listing rules.
This concentrated control will limit the ability of other shareholders to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future. This concentrated control could also discourage a potential investor from acquiring our ADSs due to the limited voting power of the Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs relative to the Class B ordinary shares and might harm the market price of our ADSs. In addition, Mr. Cotterell has the ability to control the management and major strategic investments of our company as a result of his position as our Chief Executive Officer. As a member of our board of directors, Mr. Cotterell owes statutory and fiduciary duties to us and must act in good faith and in a manner that he considers would be most likely to promote the success of our company for the benefit of our shareholders as a whole. As a shareholder, Mr. Cotterell is entitled to vote his shares in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our shareholders generally. For a description of our share capital structure, see Exhibit 2.3(a) to this Annual Report on Form 20-F (Description of Share Capital).
Future transfers by other holders of Class B ordinary shares will generally result in those shares converting on a one-to-one basis to Class A ordinary shares, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes. The conversion of our Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B ordinary shares who retain their shares in the long-term. The voting rights of the holders of Class B ordinary shares will be reduced following conversion of their shares, as our Class B ordinary shares have 10 votes per share, and our Class A ordinary shares, have one vote per share. The potential impact of the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares or the sale of the corresponding Class A ordinary shares is unclear, but it is possible that it could put downward pressure on our share price if the market perceives such conversions or disposals as an indication that founding members and/or executives wish to reduce their interest in Endava.
An active public trading market for our ADSs may not be sustained.
The lack of an active market may impair the ability of the holders of our ADSs to sell their ADSs at any time or at a price that the holder considers reasonable. The lack of an active market may reduce the fair value of our ADSs, and an inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital or acquire other companies or technologies by using our ADSs as consideration.
The rights of our shareholders may differ from the rights typically offered to shareholders of a U.S. corporation.
We are incorporated under English law. The rights of holders of ordinary shares and, therefore, certain of the rights of holders of our ADSs, are governed by English law, including the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, or the Companies Act, and by our articles of association. These rights differ in certain respects from the rights of shareholders in typical U.S. corporations. See “Item 10.B—Memorandum and Articles of Association” and “Item 16.G—Corporate Governance” in this Annual Report on Form 20-F for a description of the principal differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and, for example, the Delaware General Corporation Law relating to shareholders' rights and protections.
Holders of our ADSs have fewer rights than our shareholders and must act through the depositary to exercise their rights.
Holders of our ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders and may only exercise their voting rights with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Holders of the ADSs have appointed the depositary or its nominee as their representative to exercise the voting rights attaching to the Class A ordinary shares represented by the ADSs. When a general meeting is convened, if you hold ADSs, you may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit you to withdraw the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs to allow you to vote directly with respect to any specific matter. We will
39
make all commercially reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but we cannot assure you that you will receive voting materials in time to instruct the depositary to vote, and it is possible that you, or persons who hold their ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a right to vote. Furthermore, the depositary will not be liable for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack recourse if your ADSs are not voted as you request. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting. See “Item 12.D—Description of American Depositary Shares.”
Holders of our ADSs may face limitations on transfer and withdrawal of underlying Class A ordinary shares.
Our ADSs, which may be evidenced by ADRs, are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of your ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary think it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law, government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason subject to your right to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying Class A ordinary shares. Temporary delays in the cancellation of your ADSs and withdrawal of the underlying Class A ordinary shares may arise because the depositary has closed its transfer books or we have closed our transfer books, the transfer of ordinary shares is blocked to permit voting at a shareholders’ meeting or we are paying a dividend on our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, you may not be able to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying Class A ordinary shares when you owe money for fees, taxes and similar charges and when it is necessary to prohibit withdrawals in order to comply with any laws or governmental regulations that apply to ADSs or to the withdrawal of Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities. See “Item 12.D—Description of American Depositary Shares.”
ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.
The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that holders and beneficial owners of ADSs irrevocably waive the right to a trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including in respect of claims under federal securities laws, against us or the depositary to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. If this jury trial waiver provision is prohibited by applicable law, an action could nevertheless proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a jury trial waiver under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by a federal court. However, we believe that a jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a court of the State of New York or a federal court, which have non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement, applying such law. In determining whether to enforce a jury trial waiver provision, New York courts and federal courts will consider whether the visibility of the jury trial waiver provision within the agreement is sufficiently prominent such that a party has knowingly waived any right to trial by jury. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. In addition, New York courts will not enforce a jury trial waiver provision in order to bar a viable setoff or counterclaim sounding in fraud or one which is based upon a creditor's negligence in failing to liquidate collateral upon a guarantor's demand, or in the case of an intentional tort claim (as opposed to a contract dispute), none of which we believe are applicable in the case of the deposit agreement or the ADSs. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any provision of the federal securities laws. If you or any other holder or beneficial owner of ADSs brings a claim against us or the depositary in connection with such matters, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and/or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action, depending on, among other things, the nature of the claims, the judge or justice hearing such claims, and the venue of the hearing.
40
We may need additional capital, and a failure by us to raise additional capital on terms favorable to us, or at all, could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or enhance our service offerings to respond to market demand or competitive challenges.
We believe that our current cash balances, cash flow from operations and credit facilities should be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months from the date of filing of the consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities, draw down on our revolving credit facility or obtain another credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. Our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including investors' perception of, and demand for, securities of IT services companies, conditions in the capital markets in which we may seek to raise funds, our future results of operations and financial condition, and general economic and political conditions including the recent global economic growth slowdown, high levels of inflation and interest rate fluctuations, all of which may be heightened due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and related economic sanctions. Financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, or at all, and could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or enhance our service offerings to respond to market demand or competitive challenges.
Natural disasters, catastrophic events, public health crises or other similar events may have serious adverse consequences on our business, operating results and financial condition.
A catastrophic event could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Our facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error, intentional bad acts, health pandemics, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, geopolitical conflicts and wars, terrorist attacks, power losses, hardware failures, systems failures, telecommunications failures and similar events. The occurrence of any of the foregoing events could damage our systems and hardware or could cause them to fail completely, resulting in lengthy interruptions in provision of our services. Our insurance may not cover such events or may be insufficient to compensate us for the potentially significant losses, including the potential harm to the future growth of our business, that may result from interruptions in the provision of our services to clients as a result of system failures.
Further, a natural disaster, catastrophic event or public health crises could cause us or our clients to suspend all or a portion of their operations for a significant period of time, resulting in a permanent loss of resources, or requiring the relocation of personnel and material to alternate facilities that may not be available or adequate. Such an event could also cause an indirect economic impact on our clients, which could impact our clients’ purchasing decisions and reduce demand for our products and services.
All of the aforementioned risks may be exacerbated if our disaster recovery plan proves to be inadequate. To the extent that any of the above results in delayed, reduced or cessation of our sales or increases our cost of sales, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from a number of rules under the U.S. securities laws and are permitted to file less information with the SEC than U.S. public companies.
We are a “foreign private issuer,” as defined in the SEC rules and regulations and, consequently, we are not subject to all of the disclosure requirements applicable to companies organized within the United States. For example, we are exempt from certain rules under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that regulate disclosure obligations and procedural requirements related to the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations applicable to a security registered under the Exchange Act. In addition, our officers and directors are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and related rules with respect to their purchases and sales of our securities. Further, we are not required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information. Moreover, we are not required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. public
41
companies. Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information concerning our company than there is for U.S. public companies.
As a foreign private issuer, we file annual reports on Form 20-F within four months of the close of each fiscal year ended June 30 and reports on Form 6-K relating to certain material events promptly after we publicly announce these events. However, because of the above exemptions for foreign private issuers, our shareholders are not afforded the same protections or information generally available to investors holding shares in public companies organized in the United States.
While we are a foreign private issuer, we are not subject to certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. listed companies.
We are entitled to rely on a provision in the New York Stock Exchange’s corporate governance listing standards that allows us to follow English corporate law and the Companies Act with regard to certain aspects of corporate governance. This allows us to follow certain corporate governance practices that differ in significant respects from the corporate governance requirements applicable to U.S. companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
For example, we are exempt from New York Stock Exchange regulations that require a listed U.S. company to have a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors, require regularly scheduled executive sessions with only independent directors each year and have a remuneration committee or a nominations or corporate governance committee consisting entirely of independent directors.
In accordance with our New York Stock Exchange listing, our audit committee is required to comply with the provisions of Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act, both of which are also applicable to New York Stock Exchange-listed U.S. companies. Because we are a foreign private issuer, however, our audit committee is not subject to additional New York Stock Exchange requirements applicable to listed U.S. companies, including an affirmative determination that all members of the audit committee are “independent,” using more stringent criteria than those applicable to us as a foreign private issuer. Furthermore, the New York Stock Exchange’s corporate governance listing standards require listed U.S. companies to, among other things, seek shareholder approval for the implementation of certain equity compensation plans and issuances of ordinary shares, which we are not required to follow as a foreign private issuer.
We may lose our foreign private issuer status, which would then require us to comply with the Exchange Act's domestic reporting regime and cause us to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses.
As a foreign private issuer, we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. We may no longer be a foreign private issuer in the future, which would require us to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers as of July 1, 2024. In order to maintain our current status as a foreign private issuer, either (a) a majority of our ordinary shares must be either directly or indirectly owned of record by non-residents of the United States or (b)(1) a majority of our executive officers or directors cannot be U.S. citizens or residents, (b)(2) more than 50 percent of our assets must be located outside the United States and (b)(3) our business must be administered principally outside the United States. If we lose our status as a foreign private issuer, we would be required to comply with the Exchange Act reporting and other requirements applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, which are more detailed and extensive than the requirements for foreign private issuers and will require that we prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. We may also be required to make changes in our corporate governance practices in accordance with various SEC and rules. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws if we are required to comply with the reporting requirements applicable to a U.S. domestic issuer will be significantly higher than the cost we would incur as a foreign private issuer. As a result, we expect that a loss of foreign private issuer status would increase our legal and financial compliance costs and would make some activities highly time consuming and costly.
42
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, the price of our ADSs and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our ADSs depends, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts or the content that they publish about us. If our financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our ADSs or change their opinion of our ADSs, our ADS price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our ADS price or trading volume to decline.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future and, as a result, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our ADSs.
We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the growth and development of the business and, therefore, we do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares, including on the Class A ordinary shares underlying our ADSs, in the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will be dependent upon our future financial condition, results of operations and capital requirements, general business conditions and other relevant factors as determined by our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their ADSs after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
Item 4. Information on the Company
A. History and Development of the Company
Corporate Information
The legal and commercial name of our company is Endava plc. We were originally incorporated in February 2006 as Endava Limited, a private company with limited liability and indefinite life under the laws of England and Wales. In July 2018, we completed a corporate reorganization, pursuant to which all of our shareholders were required to elect to exchange each of the existing ordinary shares in the capital of Endava Limited held by them for the same number of Class B ordinary shares or Class C ordinary shares; provided, that the Endava Limited Guernsey Employee Benefit Trust, or the EBT, exchanged all existing ordinary shares held by it for the same number of Class A ordinary shares. Each Class A ordinary share is entitled to one vote per share and each Class B ordinary share is entitled to ten votes per share. On July 26, 2020, all of our Class C ordinary shares automatically converted to Class A ordinary shares.
On July 6, 2018, we re-registered Endava Limited as a public limited company and our name was changed from Endava Limited to Endava plc. We are registered with the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales under number 5722669, and our registered office is 125 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AR, United Kingdom.
Our principal executive office is located at 125 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AR, United Kingdom and our telephone number is +44 20 7367 1000. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Endava Inc., located at 757 Third Avenue, Suite 1901, New York, NY 10017 and the telephone number for Endava Inc. is +1 (917) 613-3859. Our website address is www.endava.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 20-F, and you should not consider information on our website to be part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, maintains a website (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants, such as Endava, that file electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Our capital expenditures for the years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 amounted to £5.1 million, £13.5 million and £13.7 million, respectively. These capital expenditures were related primarily to purchases of property and equipment for our office spaces. We expect our capital expenditures to increase in absolute terms in the next twelve months as we continue to grow our operations. We anticipate our capital expenditures in fiscal year 2025 to
43
be financed from cash generated from operations and our cash and cash equivalents. We will continue investing in technology services in Europe, Latin America, the United States and Asia-Pacific.
B. Business Overview
Overview
We are a leading provider of next-generation technology services, dedicated to enabling our clients to drive real impact and meaningful change. By combining world-class engineering, deep industry expertise and a client-centric mindset, we consult and partner with our clients to create technological solutions that fuel transformation and empower businesses to succeed in the AI-driven digital shift. From ideation to production, we support our clients with tailor-made solutions at every stage of their digital transformation, regardless of industry, region or scale.
For over 20 years, Endava has successfully delivered digital transformations, utilizing a holistic approach that leverages innovative technologies and enhances our clients’ systems to create modern value propositions that fuel their competitive edge in the market. This approach is centered around an in-depth analysis of legacy technology assets, led by data-driven automation and complemented by patented capabilities, enabling us to deliver a de-risked, cost-controlled, accurate end-to-end system transformation. This digital transformation approach now serves as our cornerstone for navigating the AI-driven digital shift.
A key factor in Endava’s success is our close collaboration with clients and partners, which enables us to stay attuned to industry trends, anticipate future developments and understand the specific needs of our clients. Using distributed enterprise agile at scale, our multidisciplinary teams seamlessly integrate with our clients’ teams, catalyzing ideation and delivering robust solutions. Our approach to ideation comprises an empathy for user needs, curiosity, creativity and a deep understanding of technologies. From proof of concept, to prototype, to production, we use our engineering expertise to deliver enterprise platforms for our clients that are capable of handling millions of transactions per day.
Technological transformation poses numerous challenges for incumbent enterprises. They are often laden with legacy infrastructure and applications that are embedded in core systems, making it difficult to reconcile maintenance of existing infrastructure and applications with the agility needed to capitalize on next-generation technologies. Enterprises are also often stymied by institutional constraints that impede their ability to solve complex problems and rapidly respond to shifting competitive dynamics, as well as ingrained traditional approaches to development. The agile methodology stands in stark contrast to the information technology, or IT, driven, legacy approach, which is premised on a sequential and siloed structure, involves long development cycles, fails to integrate user feedback and is often more costly. Likewise, internal IT teams often struggle to absorb the rapid pace of technology development and its growing complexity. Incumbent enterprises often lack the talent and experience in ideation, strategy, user experience, agile development and next-generation technologies, including AI. While they have historically looked to traditional IT service providers to deliver technology development projects, these traditional players were built to service and remain focused on servicing legacy systems using offshore delivery.
At the core of our approach is our proven and proprietary enterprise agile delivery framework, known as The Endava Adaptive Model, or TEAM, with its unique three component structure comprising (i) an Engagement Model to guide the interaction with our clients, (ii) an Interaction Model, called TEAM Enterprise Agile Scaling, or TEAS, which defines how we implement agile delivery at all levels of scaling, and (iii) Engineering Practices that guide our people to deliver effective and technically excellent solutions for our clients. TEAM utilizes advanced tools and techniques to quickly design, develop and test digital solutions, providing actionable insights into their value and business potential in a short time frame. Our clients can release higher-quality products to the market faster, respond better to market changes, and incorporate user feedback through rapid releases and product iterations.
We create value for our clients through our product and technology strategies and intelligent digital experiences that accelerate our clients’ ability to take advantage of new business models and market opportunities. Designed to fuel rapid, ongoing transformation we help our clients to become more engaging, responsive and efficient.
We provide services from our locations in European Union countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden), non-European Union countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), Latin America
44
(Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), North America (Canada and the United States), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). As of June 30, 2024, approximately 40.6% of our employees work in delivery locations in European Union countries. We provide Endavans with training to develop their technical and soft skills in an environment where they are continually challenged and given opportunities to grow as professionals, and with tools and resources to innovate.
As of June 30, 2024, we had 695 active clients, which we define as clients who paid us for services over the preceding 12-month period. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, our revenue was £740.8 million, £794.7 million and £654.8 million, respectively, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.4% over the three-year period. We generated 33.4%, 38.9% and 41.4% of our revenue for the three fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively, from clients located in the United Kingdom; we generated 25.8%, 23.0% and 21.1% of our revenue in each of those fiscal years, respectively, from clients located in Europe; and we generated 32.6%, 32.5%, 34.8% of our revenue in each of those fiscal years, respectively, from clients located in North America. The balance of revenue in each of those fiscal years comes from clients located in the Rest of the World, or RoW. Our revenue (decline)/growth rate at constant currency, which is a measure that is not calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS was (4.5)%, 16.6% and 47.6%, for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Over the last five fiscal years, 89.7% of our revenue, on average, for each fiscal year came from clients who purchased services from us during the prior fiscal year. Our profit before taxes was £27.0 million, £114.2 million and £102.4 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and our profit before taxes as a percentage of revenue was 3.6%, 14.4% and 15.6%, respectively, for the same periods. Our adjusted profit before taxes margin, or Adjusted PBT Margin, which is a measure that is not calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS, was 11.2%, 20.7% and 21.1%, respectively, for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Non-IFRS Measures and Management Metrics” for a reconciliation of revenue (decline)/growth rate at constant currency to revenue growth rate and Adjusted PBT to profit before taxes, respectively, the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS.
Industry Background
Overview
Waves of technological change are disrupting the nature of competition in every industry. New technologies have enabled the growth and success of digital native companies that leverage these technologies in every aspect of their businesses, allowing them to be nimble, innovative, data driven and focused on the user experience, often through an Agile development approach. Technology has also increased client expectations, giving them the ability to choose not only the products and services that they want, but also where, when and how they want them delivered. Incumbent enterprises must undertake digital transformation of their businesses by leveraging technology in order to meet ever-evolving client expectations and compete with digital native disruptors.
The technology industry is now experiencing a new wave of AI-driven transformation. While it presents unprecedented advancements, many organizations struggle to leverage their data to seize these opportunities. To stay competitive, they need clean data, composable architectures, and a deeper understanding of their workflows and business logic. With over 20 years of experience in delivering digital transformations, we have honed our approach to support clients through this digital shift. By combining our expertise in building digital products and services with deep industry knowledge and advanced enterprise modernization capabilities, we help our clients delve deeper into their core systems. This enables the AI-driven functionality needed to navigate the digital shift and thrive in the next wave of digital transformation
Significant Technology Innovation
Technology has gone through significant evolution in the last decade and this trend is expected to continue. The use of mobile connectivity, social media, automation, big data analytics and cloud delivery have become integral to business execution and emerging trends and technologies, including in areas such as artificial intelligence (including machine learning, or ML, and generative artificial intelligence, or generative AI, the Internet of Things, or IoT, and extended reality, hold the potential to significantly reshape industries. Because each new generation of technology builds on and advances the technology that came before it, the pace of technological innovation is expected to continue to accelerate, increasing the pace at which enterprises will need to transform.
45
Empowered Clients and Users
The proliferation of new technologies has empowered clients and users across industries and increased their expectations. These technologies have allowed clients and users to have more information and more choices, thereby changing how they interact with enterprises and their products and services. Other users, such as employees, are bringing these same expectations to the workplace. Empowered clients and users are increasingly discerning and their preferences keep changing as technology evolves. As a result, for enterprises, continually transforming their interactions with all constituencies has become a competitive imperative.
Rise of the Digital Natives
These significant technological changes have enabled the emergence of digital native companies. These companies leverage emerging technologies in every aspect of their businesses and are nimble and innovative, data driven and focused on the user experience. Digital native companies are not encumbered by legacy technology. Over the past decade, they have revolutionized the way technology is used across all functions in an organization, how technology infrastructure is built and maintained and how technology solutions are developed, deployed and continually improved.
Increasing Adoption of the Agile Approach
Due to the influence of digital native companies, the adoption of Agile development across industries has become pervasive. Agile is an iterative and incremental methodology for development where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams. Agile is user driven and focused on continuous delivery of small upgrades, facilitating highly differentiated speeds of innovation and time to market.
Challenges to Transformation
Incumbent enterprises must undertake digital transformation of their businesses by leveraging technology in order to meet ever-evolving client expectations and compete with digital native disruptors. There are several challenges incumbent enterprises face in achieving technological transformation:
Significant Investment in Legacy Technology
For most incumbent enterprises, reorienting IT operations with new technology is expensive, time-consuming and risks service disruption. Incumbent enterprises are often laden with legacy infrastructure and applications that are difficult and expensive to operate and maintain. They cannot switch off and move away from legacy technology infrastructure investments as the legacy infrastructure is often deeply embedded in the core transactional systems that drive revenue. Incumbent enterprises must find ways to reconcile maintenance of existing infrastructure and applications with a nimble approach to using next-generation technologies.
Barriers to Innovation
Incumbent enterprises are fundamentally built to do what they are already doing and can struggle with innovation. They are often characterized by ingrained processes and cultural norms that do not encourage strategic shifts, with decision makers isolated from the economic consequences of choices. These institutional constraints can impede incumbent enterprises’ ability to solve complex problems and rapidly respond to shifting competitive dynamics. Incumbent enterprises need to learn to “build many” and “fail fast” in order to efficiently allocate resources and optimize their opportunities for success.
Not Built for Agile
Incumbent enterprises must adopt new technologies and rapidly execute on initiatives in order to remain competitive but are often stymied by ingrained traditional approaches to development. The Agile methodology stands in stark contrast to the IT-department-driven, legacy approach often used by incumbent enterprises, which is premised on a sequential and siloed structure, involves long development cycles, fails to integrate user feedback and is often more costly.
46
Lack of Required Expertise and Talent
The modern competitive environment requires incumbent enterprises to deliver experiences to clients and users that are intuitive and unobtrusive. This, in turn, requires connectivity across channels of client and user interaction and successfully harnessing next-generation technology. Internal IT teams at incumbent enterprises often struggle to absorb the rapid pace of technology development and its growing complexity. Incumbent enterprises need user experience strategy and design capability, as well as technology and engineering expertise, to develop effective and frictionless user experiences. Developing this capability and expertise requires the acquisition and retention of talent in ideation, strategy, user experience, Agile development and next-generation technologies. However, the market for employees with expertise in these areas is highly competitive.
Limitations of Traditional IT Service Providers
Incumbent enterprises have historically looked to traditional IT service providers to undertake technology development projects. Traditional IT service providers are built for commoditized development, integration and maintenance engagements, where cost is key. They can deliver on large-scale projects using scaled, cost-effective infrastructure and are generally experts in legacy systems. While some of these traditional IT service providers have invested in capabilities to provide user experience strategy and design, as well as Agile development capabilities, they were built to serve, and remain focused on serving, legacy systems using offshore delivery.
Our Competitive Strengths
We have distinguished ourselves as a leader in next-generation technology services by leveraging the following competitive strengths:
Core Modernization
For many organizations, digitization over the last decade has focused on “building around the edges” as IT teams focused on enhancing client experiences and integration layers as opposed to core systems. Advancements in embedded technologies, APIs and now AI have made it necessary for organizations to modernize their core enterprise systems to take full advantage of new table-stakes technologies.
For over 20 years, we have successfully delivered digital transformations, utilizing a holistic approach that leverages innovative technologies and enhances our clients’ systems to create modern value propositions that fuel their competitive edge in the market. By modernizing their technology stacks, our clients are able to keep pace with the speed of technological change, quickly embracing AI and fully integrating it into their business.
The shift the industry is experiencing towards data driven AI and its related variants, welcomes businesses to embrace a more digital core that enables the real-time usage of data to support the rapid and efficient delivery of new initiatives.
Ideation Through Production
We help our clients become digital, experience-driven businesses by assisting them in their journey from idea generation to development and deployment of products, platforms and solutions. By providing user-centric digital strategies and engineering skills, we enable our clients to become more engaging, responsive and efficient in delivering products and services to their clients and users. We collaborate with our clients, understand their changing technology needs and seamlessly integrate with their teams to develop long-term embedded relationships and drive value. Our expertise spans the entire ideation-to-production spectrum. We create value for our clients through our product and technology strategies and intelligent digital experiences, delivered via world-class engineering and through our broad technical capabilities.
Proven Proprietary Framework for Distributed Agile Delivery at Scale
To allow us to deliver large scale distributed agile projects, not only do we have at our disposition the digital transformation approach we have honed over two decades, but also the delivery framework we have developed that
47
is based on our over 20 years of successful project delivery experience and reflects the many lessons we have learned during that period. Our TEAM delivery framework provides a delivery model that has been developed by our practitioners for practitioners, adapted to each client’s context to allow us to create value with confidence. TEAM was intentionally designed with three elements that amplify each other to enhance product delivery excellence: an engagement model, an interaction model, and a set of recommended engineering practices. The engagement model defines how we collaborate with our clients to shape and evolve delivery engagements. The TEAS interaction model defines the enterprise agile lifecycle that we use to deliver products at all levels of scale, and the engineering practices define the set of techniques that our people use to deliver excellent solutions.
Expertise in Next-Generation Technologies
We have deep expertise in next-generation technologies that drives our ability to provide solutions for digital transformation and evolution, agile transformation, and automation. Our expertise ranges from technologies developed over the last decade including mobile connectivity, social media, automation, high-productivity developer platforms, big data analytics and cloud delivery to next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence (including ML and generative AI,), IoT and extended reality. Our frameworks, methodologies and tools, including TEAM, our TEAS agile interaction model, our proprietary Chronos software analytics technology, for risk assessment of software code, and our accelerators for enterprise technology analysis, transformation and automation, provide us with deep, distinctive and difficult to replicate capabilities, that further enhance our ability to effectively develop, deploy and integrate impactful solutions based on these next-generation technologies. For example, we leveraged our software analytics tools and expertise to perform in-depth analysis of a set of complex enterprise software platforms for a capital markets organization, allowing the risks of extensive modernization and the integration of next-generation technology to be understood before committing to this course of action.
We believe technology will continue to evolve and that enterprises must continue to evolve their service offerings in order to thrive in such a dynamic environment. Our company-wide initiatives such as Endava Innovation Labs, our annual innovation competition, our internal Innovation Community, our monthly Rapid Insights sessions and regular updates on technical trends, illustrate the innovative culture important for us to maintain our strong expertise in next-generation technologies. We continue to advance our service offerings and solutions areas to remain at the cutting edge of technological developments.
We want to help our clients embrace and explore new technologies more rapidly. To that end, we have created a new department called Dava.X, which is singularly focused on helping clients accelerate and invent the future around new and emerging technologies. Dava.X represents an opportunity for differentiation by demonstrating our thought and delivery leadership across industry verticals, working with our industry teams to establish thought leading propositions around high momentum technologies. This is done by working alongside our delivery locations to ensure that the appropriate skills are built and available at scale as acceleration is realized.
Strong Domain Expertise in Numerous Verticals
We have expertise and experience in industry verticals that are being disrupted by technological change and in the Payments vertical in particular, we have helped accelerate the transformation of leading payment processing companies by building new platforms and solutions such as merchant acquiring platforms, merchant portals with real time analytics, cloud-based real-time payment processing platforms, omni-channel e-commerce gateways, mobile wallets, mobile payment system integrations, downloadable mobile device Point-of-Sale terminals and Buy Now Pay Later solutions. We are increasingly working on embedded payments solutions to enable, for example, consumer and business finance and online marketplaces, and also on regtech as our clients focus increasingly on fraud detection and prevention. We have also worked on distributed ledger technology systems and cryptocurrency technologies such as exchanges and non-fungible token issuance systems.
In the Banking and Capital Markets, or BCM, vertical, we have designed and built software to solve problems from front office to back which includes trading platforms, settlement systems, digital engagement channels and event-based data integration and analytics platforms. We also carry out the complete modernization of banking payment ecosystems, digital cores, lending platforms and all the necessary products, features and functions needed to support Retail and Commercial Banking as well as Capital Markets.
48
In the Insurance vertical, we are engaged with some of the largest insurers from both Personal and Commercial Lines insurance and the London and Specialty Market, delivering business transformation through the automation of claims and underwriting and pricing processes and data platform implementations to generate insights from the large data sets that insurers possess, as well as the implementation of core insurance products such as Guidewire and Rulebook.
In the Technology, Media and Telecommunications, or TMT, vertical, we have helped clients design and build solutions for the connected home and car, to enhance multi-channel client experiences and to automate processes, including developing an automated solution to facilitate the purchase of television advertising in the United States. In the telecoms area specifically, we work for major providers and operators to accelerate their digitization roadmap by introducing more digital services in areas including IoT, Internet Protocol Television, payments, automation, testing and 5G specific services. Additionally, we have built platforms, marketplaces and immersive environments that have elevated the experience for gamers as well as delivered mobile and AAA game titles alongside our game studio and publisher client base.
For our Retail and Consumer Goods vertical we provide technology leadership and services to clients to deliver integration of composable commerce packages and customized software solutions across e-commerce, product, mobile, in-store technology, supply chain and fulfillment, payments and client management. We also help clients to innovate for efficiency across all their business processes.
In the Healthcare and Life Sciences vertical, we help improve the quality of the services provided in healthcare by making them more efficient, more secure and more data driven. With our recent acquisition of GalaxE Group Inc, or GalaxE, our offerings include the provision of digital transformation and product development services in the US Healthcare market.
In the Mobility vertical, the movement of people and goods, we help clients with the last mile logistics, connected vehicle innovation and sharing and warehouse intralogistics. In the automotive industry, we are working with original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 manufacturers to bring technology (and our know-how from other industries) into the automotive world to help them transition into their new role within the new Mobility ecosystem.
Employer of Choice in Regions with Deep Pools of Talent
We provide services from our locations in European Union countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden), non-European Union countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), North America (Canada and the United States), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). We strive to be one of the leading employers of IT professionals in the regions in which we operate. As of June 30, 2024, approximately 40.6% of our employees work in delivery locations in European Union countries. Our delivery locations are in countries that not only have abundant IT talent pools, but also offer us an opportunity to be a preferred employer. For example, the majority of our employees are located in Romania, where we have been identified as a top employer for each of the last five years, as certified by Top Employers Institute.
The Endava workplace is based on a hybrid working model, enabling our people to work both from home and from an office, to get the best of both worlds. This approach offers a mix of working together in teams and communities within our offices as well as enjoying the flexibility to work remotely in their homes.
Distinctive Culture and Values
We believe that our people are our most important asset. We provide Endavans with training to develop their technical and soft skills, in an environment where they are continually challenged and given opportunities to grow as professionals, and with tools and resources to innovate. Endava University, our “Schools of” capability programs, and “Pass It On” are key elements of our training and development framework. Endava University provides classroom based training, we run “Schools” training programs to upskill, cross-skill and find new talent to hire in subjects including DevOps Engineering, Data, and Business Analysis, while “Pass It On” uses apprenticeship and open sharing so that our people can grow by way of collective experiences and knowledge. Our employees also have
49
career coaches to customize their integration into their respective teams and to help visualize their development and future. Through Endava Innovation Labs and other innovation events, our teams are encouraged to express their creativity in using next-generation technologies to build innovative solutions. We believe we have built an organization deeply committed to helping people succeed and our culture fosters our core values of openness, thoughtfulness and adaptability.
Effective management of Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, matters has been of strategic importance for us for years. During fiscal year 2021, we launched our “We Care” sustainability approach and published our first Sustainability Report that highlights our contributions to key ESG matters. Our Sustainability Report with respect to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was published on September 19, 2024 and can be found on our website. The information on our website does not constitute a part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F.
Founder-Led, Experienced Management Team
Our management team, led by John Cotterell, our founder and Chief Executive Officer, has significant experience in the global technology and services industries. Since our Company was founded in 2000, we have expanded from a single office serving clients principally located in the city of London to a global enterprise serving clients across Europe, North America and the RoW from locations in Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Our executive leadership team (excluding our Chief Executive Officer) has an average tenure at Endava of eight years and our senior management team of 26 employees (excluding our executive leadership team) have an average tenure at Endava of eleven years, which we believe provide evidence of a committed and successful management team. Additionally, our management team focuses on mentoring our IT professionals at all levels to develop the next generation of leadership.
Our Strategy
We are focused on continuing to distinguish ourselves as a leader in next-generation technology services. The key elements of our strategy include:
Expand Relationships With Existing Clients
We are focused on continuing to expand our relationships with existing clients by helping them solve new problems and become more engaging, responsive and efficient. We have a demonstrated track record of expanding our work with clients after an initial engagement. Our ten largest clients together contributed 32.5% and 32.8% of our total revenue in the last two fiscal years, respectively, and the number of clients that have a minimum annual spend of at least £1.0 million remained at 146 in fiscal year 2024. Expansion of our relationships with existing active clients will remain a key strategy going forward as we continue to leverage our deep domain expertise and knowledge of emerging technology trends in order to drive incremental growth for our business.
Establish New Client Relationships
We believe there is a significant potential for us to acquire new clients and we have established ourselves in delivering end-to-end ideation-to-production services in the verticals we operate in. We believe that we continue to have significant untapped opportunities in the verticals in which we operate, and we plan to leverage our experience and expertise to expand our reach. As waves of technological change sweep across industries and facilitate seamless integration of different aspects of clients’ and users’ lives, we believe our experience working within our core client base will also be of particular value in expanding our vertical reach. For example, as clients increasingly demand a frictionless and consistent buying experience, and as the payments and retail sectors converge, we believe our deep expertise in developing payment systems and e-commerce platforms will allow us to grow our retail client base. Similarly, we believe our expertise in data analytics and augmentation and virtual reality will become increasingly relevant in the healthcare industry as technology continues to reshape the practice and provision of medicine. Please refer to “—Our Clients” section below for more details.
We are likewise focused on geographic expansion. We continue with our expansion in North America and our recent acquisition of GalaxE has significantly increased our presence in that region. In the 2024 fiscal year,
50
approximately 32.6% of our revenue came from clients in North America. We are also expanding our operations in Asia-Pacific. In addition, we continuously evaluate other growth markets to expand our client footprint.
Lead Adoption of Next-Generation Technologies
We seek to apply our creative skills and deep digital technical engineering capabilities to enhance our clients’ value to their end clients and users. As a result, we are highly focused on remaining at the forefront of emerging technology trends, including in areas such as artificial intelligence (including ML and generative AI), IoT, augmented and virtual reality. For example, we have developed and deployed AI-based systems, such as natural language processing and vision processing, to support the automation of highly complex tasks, as well as advanced payment gateways and chatbot-enabled social payments. We are embedded and integrated with our clients, which gives us unique insight into how emerging industry trends can help address their needs. We plan to leverage these insights to continue driving innovation for our clients.
Expand Scale in Delivery Locations
We believe that our proprietary distributed enterprise agile at scale framework requires that we have teams based in locations with similar time zones to those of our clients since our delivery teams are in constant dialogue and interaction with our clients. We focus on being an employer of choice for IT professionals in the regions in which we operate, which include countries with deep and largely untapped creative and engineering talent pools, and on being an employer of choice in local markets. As we continue to expand our relationships with existing clients and attract new clients, we plan to expand our teams at existing delivery locations and establish new delivery locations in areas with an abundance of technical talent.
Selectively Pursue Acquisitions
We plan to continue selectively pursuing acquisitions with a focus on augmenting our core capabilities to enhance our expertise in new technologies and verticals and increase our geographic reach, while preserving our corporate culture and sustainably managing our growth. Consistent with these goals, we have completed five major acquisitions in the past three years, all of which have enabled us to accelerate core strategic goals. For example, as part of our acquisition of Lexicon in October 2022, we acquired additional headcount and offices in Australia and a new delivery location in Vietnam. Our acquisitions of DEK and Mudbath in 2023 enhanced our presence in the Asia-Pacific region, increasing our headcount in Australia and the capability and size of our Vietnamese delivery location. In August 2023, through our acquisition of TLM Partners, Inc., or TLM, we have gained expertise in outsourced development services across design, engineering and art/animation for PC and console video games and other digital entertainment. Our acquisition of EQ Tek, in February 2024 increased our presence in Poland, providing IT software development services to financial services, gaming, sports betting and other technology-led B2C businesses. Through our acquisition of GalaxE in April 2024, we have expanded our healthcare footprint in North America and added our first delivery units located in India.
We have demonstrated a track record of successfully identifying, acquiring and integrating complementary businesses and we plan to leverage this experience as we pursue further acquisitions that will help accelerate our strategy. All acquired companies have been integrated into our core and single operating segment immediately upon acquisition.
Our Capabilities
We provide a vast offering of capabilities, including digital product accelerations, advisory and digital strategy, leading delivery, digital engineering, data and AI, and operations and optimization. The multiplicative impact of different combinations of these capabilities across the delivery of strategies, experiences and engineering allows us to rapidly create real transformation for our clients. These are delivered using top-tier engineering, aiming to assist our clients in enhancing their engagement, responsiveness, and overall efficiency.
51
Step 1: Ideate
Advisory and Digital Strategy Capability Group
Many clients want to do more with their technology, investments and assets but don’t know where to start. Our technology and advisory teams help them to find the way forward. Whether it’s evolving technology and getting code into production faster, assessing ecosystems and clients opportunities, or improving products and services, we can uncover insights clients weren’t aware of before. Using our industry-specific knowledge and expertise, we can take those insights and make practical, actionable improvement proposals. We not only deliver a roadmap; we help clients with actionable advice to get them to the next chapter in their journey. Our capabilities within this capability group includes the following:
Technology Strategy
Strategy and execution are inseparable. A technology strategy doesn’t start and finish with a well-structured slide deck. It’s a continuous process that involves observation, deliberation and action. Because we’ve delivered many different projects requiring business and technological decisions, we know what is doable and achievable, enabling us to create and execute realistic strategies for our clients.
Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise architecture is a strategic enabler for modern businesses, driving adaptability in a constantly changing business environment. It allows the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities within an organizational landscape to be analyzed and understood. This is used to align IT and business objectives, ensuring efficient use of resources and fosters integration. By focusing on meaningful results and consistent decision making, we’re able to put together a realistic roadmap for client technology environments. Building on this, we can then create product and technical development collateral and processes to deliver business value quickly and effectively to ensure long-term sustainability and growth
52
Data Strategy
Businesses now have access to vast amounts of data but converting it into actionable insight is far from easy. We help clients source data, understand it and use it to their advantage. We do this by creating a data management strategy. First, we look at how data supports business goals, then, together with our client, we agree on a data strategy and delivery roadmap. We assess their technology, processes, people, tools and data culture and use the findings to help them become data-driven organizations.
Step 2: Discover and Plan
Digital Product Acceleration Capability Group
Digital product acceleration helps clients figure out how to succeed in their product journeys. We work to understand their business, technology and client strategies; we research, design and test new product and technology approaches; and we shepherd delivery. Regardless of where they are on their journey, we help develop, grow and scale product experiences profitably and with minimum risk. Our capabilities within this capability groups includes the following:
Product Strategy
We know how to create appealing products and to maximize value for our clients’ businesses. Our human-centered and data-driven approach can help them to build better products. We understand that for a digital product strategy to be successful, it must meet the needs of the client and the business while getting the best from the technology being used. Whether our clients want to start with brainstorming bold new ideas or move straight into building or growing a product, we have the capabilities to get to where they need to be.
Experience Design
Our digital experience design team offers end-to-end experience design capabilities at scale. When building a product or improving an existing one, we can make a measurable impact across the full design cycle, from idea to production. As problem solvers, we follow a human-centric process focused on empathy and our methodology is tailored to help clients create impact for the future. We uncover client and product insights to design user experiences that win hearts and imagine ambitious new products and services to nurture end users relationships through growth services. Our clients work with us to solve the challenges they face today and tomorrow.
Growth Marketing
In today’s dynamic digital market, achieving product-market fit is no longer sufficient to guarantee business success. By creating a data-driven growth strategy, we can build a scalable, profitable and self-sustainable product. Whether increasing new net users, activating dormant leads, improving conversions or engaging churned audiences, our growth strategists and specialists rely on product testing to improve the most important metrics. By combining an understanding of marketing, data, product and technology, we balance achieving quick wins that provide direct return on investment with strategic, long-term planning and execution that delivers outstanding results on a larger scale.
Analytics
Product design is a never-ending process – products that stand the test of time are always in a state of development. By analyzing user behavior, product usage patterns and conversion drivers, we can provide insights into the target audience and the future state of a product. Once a digital product is live, we measure performance against launch using established success metrics and use data-driven evolution to continually improve its design. By
53
integrating this data-driven process into product strategy and growth marketing efforts, we also ensure that clients meet their objectives and client benchmarks.
Step 3: Build and Integrate
Leading Delivery Capability Group
Embarking on an agile project can be a daunting prospect which is why clients trust us to take them on the journey. We’re highly experienced in large-scale agile delivery. With competencies across agile transformation, distributed agile delivery and accelerated DevOps delivery, we know how to achieve delivery success. And we’re committed to sharing our knowledge and partnering so our clients achieve their goals in a way that works in their context and organization. Our capabilities within this capability group includes the following:
Agile Transformation
Through our agile transformation approach and proven TEAS toolkit (TEAM Enterprise Agile Scaling), we help clients to embrace agility beyond development teams and throughout the entire idea to production cycle. Our intention is to create an environment where business, technology and operations are collaborating and defining success based on a common language: value delivered to end users. To support this, we’ve built a comprehensive toolkit that facilitates organizational, technological and cultural change towards an agile state. It includes transformation strategy, adoption approach and implementation guidelines.
Distributed Agile Delivery
We’ve developed our distributed agile delivery approach with the goal of creating the optimal balance between on-site and near-shore staff. By having face-to-face workshops, we’re able to maximize the agile benefits of collocation and take advantage of the efficiencies offered by near shoring. With our approach, we utilize the concepts of transparency and tooling to create a single vision on product strategy, vision, roadmap, detailing and delivering core features. This allows collocated and distributed teams to effectively close the distance gap and work as one.
Accelerated DevOps Delivery
In today’s high-paced digital world, companies need to deliver applications with speed and agility without compromising on quality. Building innovative digital products increasingly means shipping small increments of code very frequently and continuously evolving systems according to their real-world performance. We believe this is best achieved when the people who design and build systems also take responsibility for running them. This is central to our concept of DevOps continuous delivery and is a lesson drawn from our experience building next-gen digital products across various industries. We can build and operate entire services leveraging advanced engineering and automation practices to optimize the value stream.
Delivery Management
Our delivery managers support every aspect of delivery from the proposal stage to the final aspects of delivery. Our people are experts in matching and exceeding expectations, maintaining, and evolving relationships and focusing on the value delivered to our clients. In terms of delivery, we work with many models that are iteration or flow based as well a large scaled agile framework. Our focus is always on value delivery, and we organize our accounts to maximize the value we deliver.
Digital Engineering Capability Group
Our software teams use proven combinations of modern techniques and tools to select the right approach for each client. Adaptive, pragmatic and agile, we work in predictable and reliable iterations – normally using a scaled
54
agile approach – to deliver client value rather than just technical features. Equally at home building mobile applications, console games, enterprise applications for household names and even national critical payment infrastructure, our teams can work in the most demanding domains. Taken together, these skills allow us to undertake complex software engineering projects and deliver them in a predictable and consistent way. Our capabilities within this capability group includes the following:
Architecture
Organizations across all industries need to deliver business value faster in the context of complex system landscapes, changing business processes and constantly evolving engagement channels. Using our decades of architecture experience in agile environments, we can identify ways to rapidly modernize technology systems and apply emerging technologies. This allows simplification, reduction of waste and achieving key qualities such as security, scalability and resilience, without compromising business functionality. With our experience in all aspects of software architecture, we can provide experienced hands-on capability from assessment through to execution.
Cloud Application Engineering
To fully harness the benefits of cloud computing, it's crucial to think beyond cloud-based infrastructure. Cloud platforms provide elasticity, resilience and security, along with a multitude of powerful services to power next-generation applications which is why they are favored by so many businesses. Through our cloud engineering service, we build applications with modern web and mobile interfaces that harness the full capabilities of cloud platforms to capitalize on these innovations. To achieve this, we avoid the standard ‘lift-and-shift' approach and instead transform existing applications to be cloud-ready. By refactoring applications using microservices, containerization and cloud-native services, we ensure our clients can enjoy all the benefits that come with cloud.
Platform Engineering
Exceptional software needs a strong platform and set of lifecycle services to deliver maximum value. We can build infrastructure to support a single product or develop a comprehensive self-serve platform for an enterprise we can design, build and operate these critical foundations and optimize for our client’s specific context. Our understanding of core infrastructure has been built over decades of experience spanning hundreds of projects and many industries, alongside our partnerships with all three major cloud providers. Combined with an understanding of business goals, regulatory and technical requirements and context, this enables us to balance the need for performance, resilience, security, cost efficiency and scalability.
Software Security
Systems and data are often impacted when security is treated as an afterthought. We help our clients make the change from bolting security at the end to building security into the development lifecycle. Because we build security into the software development lifecycle by mentoring our people and investing in tools and processes, we’re able to make sure that the systems we deliver are secure by design. We enable security through our security champions and grow our security knowledge through the security community. Furthermore, we use a foundational model to select correct security practices and tools so you can identify and meet your security requirements.
Test Engineering
Test engineering ensures that software, hardware and other components work as intended prior to release. We provide support and guidance through test advisory, automation, performance, exploratory, security and accessibility testing throughout the software testing life cycle. By integrating functional, performance and security tests into the CI/CD pipeline, we ensure they can be executed as soon as there is a code change. This reflects our ’shift-left’ approach to software development and allows us to provide immediate feedback, reduce project delays and improve
55
time to market. We aim to increase product quality by creating engineering solutions and harnessing testing as a driver for continuous improvement. Our test engineers take full ownership of the testing process, providing smart solutions and automation that enhance product quality and reduce time to market.
VR, AR, XR
We help our clients utilize virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and real-time 3D to deliver compelling experiences for their clients and employees. Our extended reality (XR) solutions bring immersive experiences to life, helping businesses become more engaging, safer and more efficient. VR and AR help spatially design, visualize and showcase products, data and workflows in interactive 3D, and facilitate immersive brand experiences. AR enhances the real world in intelligent ways by layering contextually relevant information over a user’s view. We shape solutions across industries and support our clients in meeting their goals.
Data and AI Capability Group
Data and AI will play a significant role in business over the coming years – creating leaner, smarter, more engaging and relevant companies. But integrating new technologies into current systems or bringing multiple organizational silos together for a more holistic solution can slow or delay the impact of transformational technology. That’s where our experts come in. With a unique blend of deep expertise and a pragmatic, outcome-focused approach, we help our clients identify the ways in which data and AI can build strong foundations for lasting success. Our capabilities within this capability group includes the following:
Artificial Intelligence
We have extensive expertise in data science, ML and generative AI, coupled with a proven track record of successfully implemented industrial-grade solutions. Our comprehensive AI ecosystem empowers clients to unleash the maximum potential of AI through continuous monitoring, precise metrics, transparency, fairness, privacy, ethics and efficiency.
Data Engineering and Platforms
Many organizations, possess vast amounts of information that are difficult to access. Our data engineering and platform services help clients leverage this data, enhancing productivity, profitability and overall business performance. Just as significantly, we can drive innovation and enable an organization to make more informed decisions. With strategies covering business intelligence, data warehousing, big data, analytics and visualization, we help clients to transform their data into a competitive edge.
Step 4: Run and Evolve
Modern Managed Services Capability Group
Every organization operates in its unique context. We’re adaptable to these needs and can support the operation of products and platforms accordingly – via shared services or by assembling dedicated teams. Through the shared services delivered by our managed cloud, service desk, security operations and service delivery teams, we drive efficiency and optimization while never compromising on quality. By assembling dedicated teams of specialists aligned directly with your organization, we can enable shorter release cycles with fewer, more straightforward, handovers and an increased flow of value. We can also reduce delivery risk by including operational concerns much earlier in the cycle. Our capabilities within this capability group includes the following:
56
Modern Application Management
Spikes in demand can stretch applications, which is why they need to be constantly monitored and updated. That’s when application lifecycle management comes into play. By deploying applications swiftly and safely, we can reduce operational risk and lower total cost of ownership. Our application management discipline covers the operation, maintenance, versioning and upgrading of applications throughout their lifecycle. This includes best practices, techniques and procedures essential to a deployed application’s operation. Our service – tailored to meet client needs – includes incident management, request fulfilment and change and release management. With business-as-usual operations, we constantly monitor our clients application estate, resulting in efficient and low-maintenance business software.
Managed Cloud
We help clients by addressing common pitfalls and ensuring that security, compliance and governance requirements are met when operating in a cloud environment. With more than 1,200 cloud engineers, we have the scale and depth of experience to handle cloud migrations, hybrid solutions and cloud operations. We can help to improve backup and recovery, enhance disaster recovery capabilities, drive efficiency, reduce costs or just improve IT performance, according to what our clients’ need.
Service Delivery
Our service delivery teams are structured to help our clients achieve business outcomes while minimizing the costs and risks. We can improve operational services or optimize existing processes. Before embarking on a project, we assess the current operating model and its components and then work to design, plan and implement best practice standards, policies, tools and grades of service. Once implemented, we measure the on-going outcomes with a constant eye on improvement and value. Through adopting our service delivery approach, clients can expect greater productivity, improved performance, a better user experience, risk avoidance and the ability to scale IT services in line with their business needs.
Smart Desk
Our Smart Desk can provide everything from changing a password to installing a complex application. We offer a 24/7 service, and being a ServiceNow Premium Partner enables us to perform smart automation. Our clients can carry out basic functions like ordering a keyboard through a self-service portal without going through a resolving team. Besides lowering the cost per ticket, this makes servicing faster, more flexible and efficient. We can also act as an extension of the client’s team, providing faster service or product support to their clients. Our Smart Desk service offering has also been recognized by the Service Desk Institute, which awarded us five stars, its highest accreditation and one which only three service desks in the world have.
Managed Security
Our comprehensive 24/7 managed security service leverages our highly trained global team and advanced security tools. It proactively addresses the evolving cyber threat landscape, ensuring continuous security monitoring, threat detection, vulnerability management and incident response. This safeguards our clients' future and provides them with the peace of mind that their clients’ data is secure and complies with relevant data protection regulations.
Our Frameworks, Methods and Tools
Our frameworks, methods and tools, including TEAM and TEAS, enhance our ability to develop and deploy solutions based on next-generation technologies. Developed with a focus on providing innovation, quality and productivity at scale, we believe our frameworks, methods and tools allow us to:
57
•Enable our clients to embrace and explore new technologies more rapidly;
•Deliver outcome driven programs to our clients, with faster time-to-market and favorable return on investment;
•Tailor our approach to the needs of our clients and respond flexibly to changing client objectives and market conditions;
•Improve our clients’ visibility into budgets, status and progress of technology projects; and
•Provide better solutions.
Our key frameworks, methods and tools include the following:
Dava.X
We want to help our clients embrace and explore new technologies more rapidly. To that end, we have created a new department called Dava.X, which is singularly focused on helping clients accelerate and invent the future around new and emerging technologies. Dava.X represents an opportunity for differentiation by demonstrating our thought and delivery leadership across industry verticals, working with our industry teams to establish thought leading propositions around high momentum technologies. This is done by working alongside our delivery locations to ensure that the appropriate skills are built and available at scale as acceleration is realized.
Some of the high-momentum technologies Dava.X focuses on are: AI, Cloud, Core Modernization, Strategy, Cyber Security, Embedded Computing, Google Cloud Platform, Quantum, Sustainability and Physical Computing.
The Endava Adaptive Method (TEAM)
To allow us to deliver large scale distributed agile projects we have developed our TEAM delivery framework that is based on our over 20 years of successful project delivery experience and reflects the many lessons we have learned during that period. Our TEAM delivery framework provides a delivery model that has been developed by our practitioners for practitioners, adapted to each client’s context to allow us to rapidly create value with confidence.
Using TEAM makes our delivery teams more responsive, by driving business agility from idea to production, more effective by guiding value-focused delivery fostered by high quality engineering with more visible results and by providing our clients with high delivery assurance though efficiency and transparency.
Traditional Agile development approaches use small numbers of “scrum teams,” with members in close proximity. However, today, most enterprise development projects require large development teams that are often geographically or organizationally dispersed. Traditional Agile development approaches also assume a single organization is developing the software whereas today a number of organizations, such as Endava and our client, are likely to be developing the software together. To address these important aspects of large-scale agile delivery TEAM was intentionally designed with three elements that amplify each other to address these challenges: an engagement model, an interaction model, and a set of recommended engineering practices.
The Engagement Model defines how we collaborate with our clients, and other stakeholders, to shape and evolve delivery, with the aim of ensuring efficiency and transparency to provide high delivery assurance. It embodies a set of structured collaboration patterns that create common understanding, alignment and trust between the parties involved in the engagement and comprises a set of well-defined phases covering the entire journey from idea to operation.
The Interaction Model, TEAS, defines the agile lifecycle that we use to deliver products at all levels of scale, leading to business agility to make the business more responsive. TEAS encompasses the full idea to operation lifecycle and enables collaboration across the business using one common language. It provides flexible scaling for differently sized products or groups of products and adapts to all stages of a product's life. It achieves this by having
58
product level planning for a group of releases, portfolio level planning for a group of products and an overarching strategy to guide the development of the portfolio.
Some Agile development approaches have constraints that prevent them from scaling in a truly industrialized way without sacrificing agility. TEAS avoids these problems by utilizing aspects of well-known Agile scaling frameworks, but improves on them by applying the lesson we have learned to balance prescriptive approaches with empowerment and flexibility. To achieve this, TEAS provides enough guidance to allow teams to start tackling client challenges with confidence, while building in flexibility to adapt to evolving client needs, environments and cultures.
Our Engineering Practices are the tools, technologies and techniques our people use to deliver technically excellent solutions when working in their multi-skilled teams. The practices cover the entire delivery lifecycle, across all of our professional disciplines, from product strategy and UX though architecture, automated testing, development, continuous delivery and platform engineering. Uniquely, these comprehensive engineering practices are embedded in our delivery approach rather than being an afterthought or a set of references to other approaches, which is common in other delivery frameworks. The proven practices that we recommend for our teams drive quality and effectiveness driving value-focused delivery and deliver engineering excellence tailored to aspects of the delivery context such as complexity, criticality, and risk.
We believe that the tight integration of the engagement model, interaction model and engineering practices makes TEAM unique in the industry and is a major contributor to our success. These three interlocking and synergistic aspects of our deliver model mean that our teams are able to quickly design, develop and test digital solutions, providing actionable insights into their value and business potential in a short timeframe, while our clients are able to release higher-quality products to market faster, respond better to market changes and incorporate client and user feedback through rapid releases and product iterations.
We believe that our dynamic and proven approach to distributed enterprise agile delivery creates tangible and valuable benefits for our clients.
Our Accelerator
We use accelerators to map out the core system and create innovative solutions that meet our clients' evolving needs, ensuring they stay ahead in a competitive market.
Chronos
Chronos is our proprietary software analysis tool for risk assessment of software systems. It analyzes data from multiple relevant artifacts around development: the code, the version control system, and the issue tracking system. Chronos detects traits and “anti-patterns" of a software system, many of which are not directly visible in the codebase, by innovatively combining data points from these artifacts, including the system’s evolution and the behaviors of the team who developed it. “Anti-patterns” are common practices that initially appear to be appropriate solutions but end up having negative consequences that outweigh any benefits. Chronos supports both quality and productivity improvement by providing deep insights into the evolution of large-scale software systems.
Chronos offers several benefits to our clients as well as to our employees. First, it is the backbone of our Software Assessment service, through which we support our clients in gaining an integrated, balanced, and holistic view of the code-related risks embodied in a specific software system or across a landscape of systems. Second, Chronos increases the value and productivity of due diligence and technical reviews by providing information on the technologies and their evolution, on key people involved with the project, and on code and process quality issues. Finally, Chronos helps us to ramp up development projects more efficiently by allowing developers to get up to speed quickly and by helping managers oversee risks and proactively ensure that skills are balanced effectively across teams.
59
Ray
Ray is an assessment process that provides in-depth overview of complex enterprise systems. It guides detailed assessments against business and technology requirements identifying gaps and challenges.
Our Ray methodology is a rigorous process that validates system functionality against business and technical requirements while identifying gaps and challenges. This independent verification and validation solution identifies our client’s future state and provides an automated ‘x-ray’ of their entire system. Ray brings to the industry new methodologies and automated tools that validate system functionality, providing a profound and independent view into a system’s internal workings and business process behavior.
Dash
Dash is a centralized command and control platform that provides a holistic view of enterprise technology, which offers automated dependency mapping and predictive analysis capabilities. It implements an enterprise dashboard for all technology tiers, providing automation for building dependency maps, predictive analysis, code and test case generation. This automation reduces risk, giving our clients comprehensive test case coverage and significantly reduces the software development timeline.
Dash allows our clients to elevate the role of service provider staff. The result is a reduction in headcount, time and cost of delivery for troubleshooting, major changes, risky changes, re-platforming or M&A situations.
Infra
Infra is a full-scale end-to-end service that evaluates steady-state data center environments to enhance efficiency, reliability, dependability and security. Leveraging data center infrastructure management expertise, our automated services provide the optics necessary to refine and improve data center performance. It provides real, added value intelligence to our clients’ IT assessments. Our proprietary data collectors compare multiple data points to uncover hard to detect issues, measure risk based on impact to the network, suggest recommended fixes and track remediation progress. Its fully automated response to incident mitigation and security remediation allows for faster response times for detection and isolation which allows your network to protect itself.
Maps
Our automated dependency mapping tool is designed to visualize complex relationships between different components within a software system. It identifies impact of code changes reducing risks.
Upon custom configuration, we use Maps to find and analyze the impact of changes in applications and infrastructure, enterprise wide, including documents in different programming languages that reside in a separate code environment. This end-to-end traceability provides a holistic view of our client’s environment, how systems are inter-related and how systems implement business processes in the enterprise, enabling consulting recommendations, management of consolidation, refactoring, cloud migration, modernization and roadmap building.
Maps finds and analyses the impact of changes in a particular code repository enterprise wide, including documents in different programming languages that reside in a separate code environment. It can be used for both reverse and forward engineering purposes in multiple programming languages.
Agentic AI Industry Accelerator
Our agentic AI industry accelerator, internally designated as Morpheus, and its AI-powered industry tools combine the power of data and multi-agent autonomous teams to tackle complex challenges across all industries, including highly regulated fields like healthcare, insurance, financial services and private equity.
We are operationalizing large language models, or LLMs, around data to overcome common barriers caused by hallucinations, ensuring that all activity is transparent, knowable and critically auditable.
60
‘Morpheus’ represents the first significant step in applying advanced language model operations to automate complex processes within industries with strict regulatory requirements or data transparency needs. The heart of the design is based on three foundational themes:
•Data at the core with full transparency
•Teams of agents to break down complex workflows
•Dynamic scaling of teams to accelerate processes
Lead AI agents distribute workload amongst a team of specialist agents, collating their results and orchestrating the next workflow steps while also capturing data for traceability and governance at every step. LLM- and cloud-agnostic, Morpheus can be considered a flexible and trustworthy way to rapidly transform businesses across any industry.
Creating data products in this way enables an entirely new avenue of thinking about autonomous teams, removing the notion of constraints and freeing up entire workforces to do more meaningful work.
CSAT
Client Satisfaction Analysis Tool, or CSAT, is our client experience management tool, which allows us to collect regular client feedback. CSAT relies on surveys, common use testimonials and other inputs to gather a robust view of how clients feel about Endava. Through CSAT, we collect, analyze and generate powerful management information that drives our continuous experience improvements. CSAT helps us differentiate ourselves in managing clients in a sustainable way.
Our Delivery Model
We believe the development of a scaled global, nearshore delivery model with selective close-to-client capabilities enables us to deliver high-quality technology services to meet our clients’ needs. Nearshore delivery locations with geographic proximity, cultural affinity and complementary time zones enable increased interaction with our clients, enhance relationships and improve responsiveness for more efficient delivery of our services. As a result, we are able to differentiate ourselves on projects that require a high degree of client collaboration and iteration.
We provide services from our locations in European Union countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden), non-European Union countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), North America (Canada and the United States), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). We strive to be one of the leading employers of IT professionals in the regions in which we operate. We locate our delivery locations in countries that not only have abundant IT talent pools, but also offer us an opportunity to be a preferred employer.
Our nearshore delivery model was first established in Central Europe in order to efficiently deliver our solutions to European clients. Our primary delivery locations are in Romania, where we employed approximately 3,407 employees involved with delivery of our services as of June 30, 2024. As of June 30, 2024, we had 1,086 such employees located in Cluj-Napoca, the second largest city in Romania and 979 such employees located in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. We believe Romania is an ideal location to source IT delivery talent due to its educational infrastructure, large multi-lingual population, advanced technological infrastructure and flexible labor regulation. As of June 30, 2024, we also had approximately 3,218 IT professionals across our locations in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia, which are countries that we believe offer many of the same benefits as Romania. To serve our North American clients, we had approximately 1,262 employees involved with delivery of our services across our ten Latin American delivery locations as of June 30, 2024, the majority of which are located in Argentina (488 employees) and Colombia (559 employees). We believe that the Latin American region as a whole has an abundant talent pool of individuals skilled in IT.
61
Following our recent acquisition of GalaxE, we now also have offshore delivery capability from India that can be used to provide our services to North American and European clients.
In addition, we are highly focused on the security of our clients’ data and are certified to ISO 27001 standards.
Our Clients
As of June 30, 2024, we had 695 active clients, which we define as clients who spent money with us over the preceding 12-month period. Our clients are primarily enterprises based in the United Kingdom, European Union and United States. Our clients principally operate in the Payments, BCM, Insurance, TMT and Mobility verticals. We are also focused on growing our client base in other verticals, such as the consumer products, healthcare, and retail verticals, and on providing services to our clients that span verticals.
During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, our 10 largest clients based on revenue accounted for 32.5%, 32.8% and 33.8%, of total revenue, respectively. Mastercard was our largest client during our fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, contributing less than 10% of our revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, compared to 10.7% of our revenue in the year ended June 30, 2023, and less than 10% of our revenue in the year ended June 30, 2022.
Clients in the Payments vertical contributed to 24.1%, 29.2% and 29.8% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively. Clients in the BCM vertical contributed to 14.9%, 16.2% and 15.1% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively. Clients in the Insurance vertical contributed to 8.4%, 6.9% and 5.7% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively. Clients in the TMT vertical contributed 22.8%, 21.9% and 25.0% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively. Clients in the Mobility vertical contributed 10.0%, 10.1% and 10.3% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively. Clients in our Other vertical contributed 19.7%, 15.7% and 14.1% of our total revenue in the 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years, respectively.
We are focused on building deep, long-term relationships with our clients, which often begin with a discrete project and develop into larger engagements. We target clients to whom we believe we can demonstrate our deep understanding of technological trends and our capability to provide end-to-end ideation-to-production services.
Sales and Marketing
Our sales and marketing strategy is focused on driving revenue growth from existing and new clients. We run a single, highly integrated sales and marketing organization that comprises strategy, solutions and offers, marketing, lead generation, sales and account teams. As of June 30, 2024, we had 200 employees on our sales and marketing teams located across our offices.
We have developed our Endava Sales Academy to cultivate sales talent internally and create a high-performing sales workforce that is culturally aligned with our values. Our Sales Academy begins with candidates joining lead generation teams, where they learn how to identify potential clients and sales techniques. Over the course of approximately three years, candidates progress through this program and can become business development managers.
Competition
We operate in a global and dynamic market and compete with a variety of organizations that offer services similar to those that we offer.
We face competition primarily from:
•next-generation IT service providers, such as Globant S.A and EPAM Systems.
•digital agencies and consulting companies, such as McKinsey & Company, Ideo and Publicis Sapient;
62
•global consulting and traditional IT service companies, such as Accenture PLC, Capgemini SE, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation and Tata Consultancy Services Limited; and
•in-house development departments by our clients of their technology and IT capabilities.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our business include: ability to innovate; technical expertise and industry knowledge; end-to-end solution offerings; delivery location; price; reputation and track record for high-quality and on-time delivery of work; effective employee recruiting; training and retention; responsiveness to clients’ business needs; scale; and financial stability. We believe that we compete favorably with respect to each of these factors.
Facilities
Our corporate headquarters are located at 125 Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AR, United Kingdom, where we lease approximately 1,000 square meters of office space. We provide services from our locations in European Union countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden), non-European Union countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), North America (Canada and the United States), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). We lease all of our facilities and also use them as office spaces. We believe our current facilities are suitable and adequate to meet our current needs and for the foreseeable future.
Our People
As of June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, we had 12,085, 12,063 and 11,853 employees (including directors), respectively. We have collective bargaining agreements with our employees in Romania and Vietnam, as is market practice in these countries. We believe our employee relations are good and we have not experienced any work stoppages. We vet our employees in accordance with the BS7858 screening standards.
At each date shown, we had the following employees (including directors), broken out by department and geography:
| As of June 30, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Function: | |||||||||||||||||
| Employees involved in delivery of our services | 10,812 | 10,938 | 10,844 | ||||||||||||||
Selling, General and Administrative(1)
|
1,273 | 1,125 | 1,009 | ||||||||||||||
Total |
12,085 | 12,063 | 11,853 | ||||||||||||||
63
| Geography | As of June 30, | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||||||||||
Western Europe(1)(2)
|
562 | 659 | 602 | ||||||||||||||
| Central Europe - EU Countries | 4,904 | 5,693 | 6,093 | ||||||||||||||
Sub-total: Western Europe & Central Europe - EU Countries(1)
|
5,466 | 6,352 | 6,695 | ||||||||||||||
| Central Europe - Non-EU Countries | 2,346 | 2,689 | 2,842 | ||||||||||||||
| Latin America | 1,357 | 1,661 | 1,927 | ||||||||||||||
North America(3)
|
807 | 324 | 348 | ||||||||||||||
Asia-Pacific(4)
|
2,101 | 1,032 | 38 | ||||||||||||||
| Middle East | 8 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 12,085 | 12,063 | 11,853 | ||||||||||||||
(2) The changes in headcount in Western Europe from 2023 to 2024 includes 13 acquired employees in connection with our acquisition of TLM in August 2023.
(3) The increased headcount in North America from 2023 to 2024 includes 47 acquired employees in connection with our acquisition of TLM in August 2023, and 495 acquired employees in connection with our acquisition of GalaxE in April 2024.
(4) The increased headcount in Asia-Pacific from 2023 to 2024 includes 1,018 acquired employees in connection with our acquisition of GalaxE in April 2024.
We believe that our people are our most important asset. We provide our employees, whom we call Endavans with training to develop their technical and soft skills, in an environment where they are continually challenged and given opportunities to grow as professionals, and with tools and resources to innovate. We have two internal pillars – Endava University and “Pass It On” - which are key elements of our training and development framework. Endava University provides digital-based training and “Pass It On” uses apprenticeship and open sharing so that our people can grow by way of collective experiences and knowledge. Our employees are also assigned career coaches to customize their integration into their respective teams and to help visualize their development and future. Through Endava Innovation Labs and other innovation events, our teams are encouraged to express their creativity in using next-generation technologies to build innovative solutions.
We strive to be one of the leading employers of IT professionals in the regions in which we operate. We locate our delivery locations in countries that not only have abundant IT talent pools, but also offer us an opportunity to be a preferred employer. For example, a majority of our employees are located in Romania, where we have been identified as a top employer in the country for each of the last five years, as certified by Top Employers Institute.
We are also involved in initiatives that address social issues and encourage knowledge-sharing beyond our organization in the communities in which we operate. We regularly sponsor technical events and speak at global technical and industry-focused conferences. Our largest initiative consists of internship and graduate programs. By supporting local education, we seek to inspire exploration in engineering and technology.
We have built an organization deeply committed to helping people succeed and our culture fosters our core values:
•Open: We have confidence in our abilities, approach and people, so we are open and transparent.
•Thoughtful: We care deeply about people, whether they are our employees, clients or our broader communities.
•Adaptable: We embrace change and remain flexible, allowing us to operate successfully in complex environments.
•Trusted: We build our relationships on trust and integrity.
•Smart: We employ clever people who bring skills, experience and talent to craft smart solutions for our clients.
64
C. Organizational Structure
See Exhibit 8.1 to this Annual Report on Form 20-F for a list of our significant subsidiaries.
D. Property, Plant and Equipment.
For a discussion of our facilities, see “Item 4.B. Business Overview—Facilities.”
Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.
Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F. This discussion, particularly information with respect to our future results of operations or financial condition, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as described under the heading “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 20-F. You should review the disclosure under the heading “Risk Factors” herein for a discussion of important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.
Overview
We are a leading next-generation technology services provider and help accelerate disruption by delivering rapid evolution to enterprises. We aid our clients in finding new ways to interact with their clients and users, enabling them to become more engaging, responsive and efficient. Using Distributed Enterprise Agile at scale, we collaborate with our clients, seamlessly integrating with their teams, catalyzing ideation and delivering robust solutions. Our approach to ideation comprises an empathy for user needs, curiosity, creativity and a deep understanding of technologies. From proof-of-concept, to prototype, to production, we use our engineering expertise to deliver enterprise platforms for our clients that are capable of handling millions of transactions per day. Our people, whom we call Endavans, synthesize creativity, technology and delivery at scale in multi-disciplinary teams, enabling us to support our clients from ideation to production.
Since our founding in 2000, we have expanded from a single office serving clients principally located in the city of London to a global enterprise serving clients across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America. We provide services from our locations in European Union countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden), non-European Union countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), North America (Canada and the United States), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). As of June 30, 2024, approximately 40.6% of our employees worked in nearshore delivery locations in European Union countries.
As of June 30, 2024, we had 695 active clients, which we define as clients who paid us for services over the preceding 12-month period. Mastercard was our largest client during our fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, contributing less than 10% of our revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, compared to 10.7% of our revenue in the year ended June 30, 2023, and less than 10% of our revenue in the year ended June 30, 2022. Geographically,
65
we served clients in North America, Europe, United Kingdom and the RoW, and, by industry vertical, we served clients in Payments, BCM, Insurance, TMT, Mobility, and Other.
| Revenue by geography | Fiscal Year Ended June 30, | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
| North America | £ | 241,652 | £ | 258,112 | £ | 228,112 | |||||||||||
| Europe | £ | 191,206 | £ | 182,551 | £ | 138,005 | |||||||||||
| United Kingdom | £ | 247,598 | £ | 309,365 | £ | 270,844 | |||||||||||
| RoW | £ | 60,300 | £ | 44,705 | £ | 17,796 | |||||||||||
| Total | £ | 740,756 | £ | 794,733 | £ | 654,757 | |||||||||||
For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 our revenue was £740.8 million, £794.7 million and £654.8 million, respectively, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.4% over a three fiscal year period. We generated 33.4%, 38.9% and 41.4% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively, from clients located in the United Kingdom; we generated 25.8%, 23.0% and 21.1% of our revenue in each of those fiscal years, respectively, from clients located in Europe; and we generated 32.6%, 32.5% and 34.8% of our revenue in each of those fiscal years, respectively, from clients located in North America. The balance of revenue in each of those fiscal years comes from clients located in the RoW. Our revenue (decline)/growth rate at constant currency, which is a measure that is not calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS, for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 was (4.5)%, 16.6% and 47.6%, respectively. See note 1 in “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Non-IFRS Measures and Management Metrics” for a definition of this measure and reconciliation of actual reported revenue growth rate to revenue growth rate at constant currency, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS.
Over the last five fiscal years, 89.7% of our annual revenue, on average, came from clients who purchased services from us during the prior fiscal year.
Revenue by industry vertical(1)
|
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
| Payments | £ | 178,778 | £ | 232,263 | £ | 195,415 | |||||||||||
| BCM | £ | 110,706 | £ | 128,653 | £ | 99,129 | |||||||||||
| Insurance | £ | 62,472 | £ | 55,091 | £ | 37,298 | |||||||||||
| Sub-total: Payments and Financial Services | £ | 351,956 | £ | 416,007 | £ | 331,842 | |||||||||||
| TMT | £ | 169,227 | £ | 173,927 | £ | 163,534 | |||||||||||
| Sub-total: TMT | £ | 169,227 | £ | 173,927 | £ | 163,534 | |||||||||||
| Mobility | £ | 73,739 | £ | 80,399 | £ | 67,277 | |||||||||||
| Other | £ | 145,834 | |||||||||||||||