Bentley adding small-to-mid sized accounts at ‘rapid pace’ says Q2 report

Bentley Systems 2024 second quarter report cover page. (Image: Bentley Systems)

Bentley Systems reported total revenues of US$330.3 million, which is up 11.3% year-over-year. The company also recorded a constant currency annualised recurring revenue (ARR) growth rate of approximately 11% to $1.2 billion.

Subscription revenues were up 14.7% to $297.4 million, with operating income margin up 18% to 24.3%.

CEO Nicholas Cumins said, “Our performance in [the quarter] and the first half provides a solid foundation for the full year, with very positive end-market and operational momentum.

“Our year-over-year ARR growth of 11% on a constant currency basis – 11.5% excluding China – is consistent with the previous quarter.”

Cumins officially took over as CEO on 1 July of this year.

He noted that public works/utilities and North America segments remained principal growth-drivers and not just for major infrastructure projects.

Nicholas Cumins, Bentley Systems CEO (Image: Bentley Systems)

“We continued to add new small- and medium-sized accounts at a rapid pace, reflecting healthy market conditions,” Cumins said.

The CEO added that Bentley was currently ahead of expectations in some key measurements.

“Profitability and operating cash flow started the year ahead of our expected pace, with subscription revenues – 91% of total – fully on pace,” he added.

Cumins highlighted one downside in the quarter.

“Our digital integrator Cohesive’s professional services business, unrelated to Bentley Systems software, has declined significantly from 2023,” he said.

Bentley finding ‘traction’ with AI solutions

Cumins acknowledged that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for clients will grow and becoming a key part of Bentley’s business.

“The traction we are generating with our AI-based solutions for asset analytics is worth noting,” he said. “AI is going to become a major driver of our business, to help owner-operators improve the performance of their assets and make infrastructure more resilient, as well as to help engineering services firms increase their productivity and bridge the widening engineering resources capacity gap.”