Nuance reports return to organic growth and announces new strategic agreement

Nuance Communications has announced Q1 2018 GAAP revenues of $501.6 million, up 2.9 percent from the same quarter a year ago, and also a strategic agreement to provide its voice biometric authentication technology to BME Inntech to allow customers to sign contracts with their voice.

Finextra reports the deal between Nuance and BME’s technology subsidiary is intended to reduce management time and improve the satisfaction of its clients in the financial sector, while increasing customer confidence and preventing fraud.

BME will offer the new solution to the financial community to help companies comply with new regulations such as MiFID II and GDPR.

Meanwhile, Nuance reported net new bookings in Q1 of $418.4 million, a 10 percent increase over Q1 2017, with strong performance in its automotive and enterprise divisions. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.18 in the quarter, with a non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.27. The company’s GAAP operating margin fell from 4.9 percent in Q1 2017 to 1.8 percent, cash flow from operations declined from $124.9 million to $86.1 million.

“Three years ago, we undertook a plan to transform our business and today, with our first quarter results, we reached a milestone of returning to organic growth,” said Dan Tempesta, Nuance’s chief financial officer. “This progress is the result of multiple initiatives designed to drive efficiencies in the business and to reinvest in innovation, sales, channels and services to fuel our growth. This success motivates our confidence in the business and the ability to raise our 2018 organic growth targets to 3% to 5%.”

That revenue growth guidance of 3 to 5 percent is up from previous guidance of 2 to 4 percent, and Nuance expects net new bookings growth of 5 to 7 percent in Q2.

Nuance also recently reached a milestone of 300 million voiceprints registered, and Director of Product Strategy for Voice Biometrics Brett Beranek told Biometric Update that enterprises are finally moving beyond knowledge-based authentication.

Article Topics

authentication  |  financial results  |  Nuance Communications  |  voice biometrics