Founder, chairman and CEO Robert Keane said the results demonstrated “successful value generation despite difficult macro conditions”.
“While Vista's profit continues to be constrained by the significant investments we have made, following the completion of its technology migration, we are focused on leveraging these investments to demonstrate Vista's growth and profitability potential.”
Overall sales at the mass-customisation and web-to-print giant increased from $2.58bn (£2.13bn) to $2.89bn in the financial year to 30 June 2022.
Adjusted EBITDA slipped from $349m to $281m, while EBITDA at the Vista division alone fell by $124m.
Cimpress said the Vista part of its business had “by far has been the most negatively impacted” by the combination of recent cost inflation and the pandemic's impact on both product mix and active customer count.
“Our Upload & Print businesses, National Pen, BuildASign, and Printi all are generating similar or more revenue and profit than they did prior to the pandemic despite lingering pandemic headwinds throughout this past year, supply chain disruption, and cost inflation,” Keane stated.
“There is much to celebrate here about their demonstration of our competitive advantages and our execution.”
Regarding the $1.5bn-turnover Vista operation, he said: “The Vista segment generates our highest profits, but those profits and cashflow are currently depressed relative to past and potential levels.
“To return Vista to sustained revenue growth and to its traditional levels of profit, we have been investing deeply in the multi-year transformation journey… in summary, we seek to build what will become best-in-world design and service capabilities that will integrate seamlessly with a broad range of physical and digital small business marketing products.”
He said that multiple factors had weighed heavily on Vista's FY2022 profitability, including revenue growth that was not as strong as the group’s other businesses, and cost inflation not offset by price increases “as price testing in major markets was limited prior to Vista's platform migration”, together with high levels of discretionary long-term investment.
Sales at the Upload & Print business, which includes Tradeprint in the UK, rose from $696m to $855.6m.
For the full year, combined EBITDA at Upload & Print grew by 45%, or $39.2m.
“Both revenue and EBITDA for this combined group of businesses reached record levels for Q4 and FY2022,” Cimpress stated.
“We believe the current business environment, characterised by lingering pandemic impacts, rising input costs, and supply chain challenges, puts outsized pressure on smaller and less profitable competitors.”
Shares in Cimpress fell to a 52-week low earlier this month, and are down more than 52% since the start of the year.
The shares picked up yesterday ahead of the results announcement, at $34.91, with trading yet to open today.
