ANNUAL REPORT 2016 2 DATALEX ANNUAL REPORT 2016 DATALEX. YOU GET A BETTER VIEW OF PEOPLE FROM HERE. 2016 HIGHLIGHTS In 2016, we continued to successfully deliver on our strategy for growth and the creation of shareholder value, with double digit growth across all key metrics of revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and cash and short term investments, while undertaking significant investment to drive future growth. Platform Revenue Profit after Tax Growth 15% 29% 2016 2016 2015 2015 15 $22.8m $26.4m $4.2mgraph $5.4m Adjusted EBITDA Cash and Short Term Investments 18% 12% 2016 2016 2015 2015 15 $10.4m $12.2m $21.8m $24.3m 4 DATALEX ANNUAL REPORT 2016 CONTENTS STRATEGY REVIEW At a Glance 2 Market Review 4 Our Digital Commerce Portfolio 6 Investment Case 8 Business Model 10 Chairman's Statement 12 Our Strategy 14 Chief Executive Review 18 Key Performance Indicators 24 Financial and Operational Review 26 Risk Report 31 GOVERNANCE Directors and Other Information 35 Directors’ Report 40 Directors' Responsibilities Statement 46 Corporate Governance Statement 48 Remuneration Report 64 Independent Auditors’ Report 68 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Consolidated Balance Sheet 80 Consolidated Income Statement 81 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 82 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity 83 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 84 Company Balance Sheet 85 Company Statement of Changes in Equity 86 Company Statement of Cash Flows 87 Notes to the Financial Statements 88 See all investor information online at www.datalex.com/investors WWW.DATALEX.COM 1 AT A GLANCE Our software enables airlines to adapt faster and better to the ever changing needs of customers. 2 DATALEX ANNUAL REPORT 2016 STRATEGY REVIEW Datalex is a market leader in Digital Commerce for Travel Retail Our platform is used by some of the world’s most Agility in Travel Commerce: Airline customers innovative airline retail brands to drive their use the Datalex Digital Commerce Platform to revenue and customer experience. Headquartered dynamically control and optimise all air and in Dublin, Ireland with five office locations across ancillary offers to over one billion interactions on Europe, USA and China. Datalex is a publicly listed every device across every digital sales channel and company and trades on the Irish Stock Exchange at every touch point in the travel journey, covering (ISE:DLE). every corner of the globe. CONTROL THE OFFER COMPLETE THE ORDER UNLOCK OMNI REVENUE CHANNEL & LOYALTY Thanks to the success of its customers, Datalex has become a leading Digital Commerce Platform in its chosen market. >1 Billion >50 Global Brands Shopping interactions on the Established customer and partner Digital Commerce Platform brands with typical contract lengths annually. of five years. Significant growth in fast growing Chinese market. WWW.DATALEX.COM 3 MARKET REVIEW UNDERSTANDING OUR MARKETPLACE Our customers demand an agile and flexible Digital Commerce Platform upon which they can effectively retail innovative new product and service offerings for optimised revenues and customer experience across all customer channels and touchpoints. AIRLINES & THE DIGITAL ECONOMY Airlines are forecast to earn a 4.1% net profit margin in 2017, well below other participants in the travel $817B supply chain. WORLDWIDE DIGITAL TRAVEL SALES BY 2020, Digital technology, mobility, and data now drive DIGITAL TRAVEL SALES IN customer expectation for new relevant and tailored ASIA-PACIFIC WILL SEE THE products and services and the digital economy is FASTEST GROWTH dominated by digital platform businesses such as (eMarketer 2016) Amazon, Priceline and Airbnb. The digital economy will continue to drive a monumental change in how airlines as retailers compete to offer quality products and services which differentiate and drive margin expansion. THE RETAIL OPPORTUNITY Travel demand remains strong, and the airline retail opportunity continues to expand, providing opportunity for better returns. 7 BILLION The airline can travel further with the customer than 4 BILLION PASSENGERS any other travel retailer as the 'first point in the travel EXPECTED IN 2017 TO RISE TO journey', yet siloed customer engagement systems 7 BILLION BY 2035 IATA’S 20- and a legacy supply chain limit the opportunity to YEAR FORECAST engage and provide offers. (IATA STB 2016) Airlines look to invest and innovate in new revenue generating products and services beyond the traditional fare and limited ancillary offer, and to actively retail with the same control and flexibility of competing online retailers. 4 DATALEX ANNUAL REPORT 2016 STRATEGY REVIEW Datalex is ideally positioned to meet the growing demand for flexible and dynamic digital commerce solutions which put the airline in control of retailing its products and services. THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE Airlines are increasingly aware that their commer- cial future is reliant on a rapid shift from legacy systems to more flexible, dynamic and customer centric digital commerce platforms which they can control. Legacy inventory, ticketing and reservation systems of today lack the flexibility required for a dynamic digital sales market. Airlines continue to invest in digital platforms that can help transform legacy and rigid distribution models which hinder brand competitiveness and much needed revenue and margin. AN INDUSTRY IN TRANSITION Airlines have signalled their intent through IATA to AIRLINES REQUIRE DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS THAT ALLOW THEM TO enhance distribution control of their products and ACTIVELY AND NIMBLY RETAIL THEIR services and to simplify fulfilment of orders across PRODUCTS WITH THE SAME CONTROL, an increasing volume of customer channels. FLEXIBILITY, AND DETAIL AS ANY OTHER Datalex are active members of the IATA working ONLINE RETAILER. groups and taskforces which are tasked to define future offer and order standards for the airline (IATA Future of Distribution enterprise. Report 2016-2021) WWW.DATALEX.COM 5 OUR DIGITAL COMMERCE PORTFOLIO OUR DIGITAL COMMERCE PORTFOLIO 66 DATALEX ANNUAL REPORT 2016 STRATEGY REVIEW INNOVATION IN DIGITAL COMMERCE PRODUCT PORTFOLIO DRIVES CAPACITY FOR GROWTH The airline retailer has access to more touchpoints than any other travel retailer. Airlines cannot realise the full retail opportunity until they work with one common system as the basis for every off er and for a consistent customer experience. Investment in digital commerce is therefore critical to the airline’s commercial future. The Datalex Digital Commerce Platform meets the requirement for one common system, providing the latest in digital technology innovation coupled with unique travel domain expertise. In 2016, Datalex invested US$9.2m (2015: US$6.0m) in product development, accelerating our innovation in key areas such as off er and order management to take advantage of our growing market opportunity. THE SALES CHANNEL THE OFFER Our platform enables a consistent off er Our customers continue to create and experience across web, mobile, call centre, merchandise new innovative product and airport and in-fl ight touchpoints. In 2016, we service off erings beyond the traditional fare and released new API toolsets against which airlines limited ancillary off ers. Our off er management design and diff erentiate customer experiences. capability continues to extend and combine a We also delivered a comprehensive call centre greater range of off ers which drive revenue and application as an integrated customer touchpoint margin expansion for our installed customer which has greatly enhanced customer experience base and which diff erentiate our platform and revenue opportunity. Our investment in for new customer acquisition. In 2016, we ‘API First’ ensures that the platform can scale to developed new product capabilities which permit support a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem of personalised and dynamic off er optimisation of channels and touchpoints. airline and partner products and services. New platform solutions for vacation packaging and loyalty were also developed, which open a new avenue of growth and allows us to broaden our THE PRICE off ering. Our pricing engine is a key product diff erentiator, and we continue to innovate and lead the THE ORDER transformation of pricing as an integrated The airline industry is hindered by a legacy component of our off er capability. The industry and complex order management model relies on disparate legacy pricing engines built which involves rigid reservations, ticketing and for the air fare only. These systems cannot accounting methods designed for one product dynamically price or revenue optimise the full (the airline ticket) and one channel (the agency). range of airline off ers. In 2017, this continues The airline off er has greatly expanded and to be a key focus for our innovation team as we airlines acknowledge that their commercial work with leading airlines and strategic partners future must serve a rapidly increasing volume such as IBM Watson to revolutionise dynamic of customer channels. Industry initiatives (IATA pricing using advanced cognitive computing and One Order) are underway to simplify the order machine learning technologies. management process and our airline customers are leading the way by virtue of the Datalex Order Management capability which simplifi es fulfi llment, settlement and servicing of bookings. Digital Payments Portfolio Our platform allows the airline retailer to tailor the off er, based on the payment option selected, and to manage all forms of payments across global markets. Airline customers demand