The struggles with shareholders are over, the heavy debt has been reduced, and a new CEO is now in charge. Unifiedpost, the Belgian specialist in electronic invoicing, is entering a fresh chapter. And its ambitions are big—both in scope and scale. "We have everything we need to become the European market leader," says Nicolas de Beco, Unifiedpost CEO.
In September 2020, Belgian fintech company Unifiedpost went public on Euronext at €20 per share. Since then, the share price has collapsed to around €4. As a result, the specialist in electronic invoicing and payments is now barely above penny-share status—a consequence of numerous acquisitions and heavy debt.
Last year, Marc Coucke lost patience. Through his investment fund, Alychlo, he holds a 15% stake in Unifiedpost. He pushed for several changes but was outvoted at the shareholders' meeting. However, he later got his way—at least in part.
A few months ago, Unifiedpost appointed a new CEO, French-American Nicolas de Beco, who previously worked for French multinational and industry peer Quadient. Meanwhile, co-founder and former CEO Hans Leybaert remains with the company, now serving as chairman of the board.
The whole episode is now behind us, and shareholders are once again aligned, de Beco assures. “Everyone is fully committed to working together.” Investors should also benefit from this.
“I recently read on the international investment site Simply Wall St that Unifiedpost is among the top three European penny stocks with potential,” says De Beco. “Based on our current intrinsic value, our share price should be between €9 and €11 today. And that’s without considering our future plans, which will further increase the company’s value.”
What are those plans? ‘First and foremost, further deleveraging, using proceeds from the sale of activities’ says de Beco. "Everything that is not part of the core business - especially electronic invoicing and payments - is going out the door. We sold our subsidiary in the Netherlands for 133 million euros, 7.7 million of which via an earnout (subsequent repayments of the purchase price according to the performance of the acquired company; nvdr.). With the remaining 125 million, we repaid a large part of our expensive loan with US investment fund Francisco Partners. By the end of 2024, our net debt had dropped to €29.5 million, on a balance sheet total of €323 million. A year earlier, we still had net debt of 102 million euros, out of a balance sheet total of 278 million euros. The debt reduction will also ensure that our free cash flow comes out of the red by the end of this year, which will again increase the value of Unifiedpost."
Unifiedpost's sales need to accelerate. ‘The number of subscriptions to our software should grow by 25% this year,’ says de Beco. "Belgium has about 1.2 million companies that are required to switch to electronic invoicing by 1 January 2026. Of that group of companies, I want to get at least 20-25% of them on our e-invoicing platform Banqup. Banqup, by the way, will be the new name of our company."
Peppol
Unifiedpost operates in 29 countries, mainly in Europe, but is now focusing on the countries where mandatory e-invoicing is imminent. Besides Belgium, these are France and Germany. "France will start in September 2026. Germany starts in January 2026, but there the e-invoice is being rolled out in phases," says de Beco. "Of those three countries, Belgium is essential. We have to succeed at home, because of our shareholding, which is very Belgian. Our Belgian shareholders want to be able to be proud of their company. Belgium is also important as a European showcase for e-invoicing. If we succeed here, we will also succeed in France, Germany and other European countries."
To do so, de Beco is counting on what it says is Unifiedpost's unique asset. "We are one of the few e-invoice players that can serve all European countries with the same platform. That means that through our Banqup platform, companies can do business directly across Europe. This is not obvious. True, there is such a thing as Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement Online), an international network for exchanging electronic documents, such as e-invoices. But many countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have their own invoicing and reporting systems, separate from Peppol. Our competitors have to adapt each time, Unifiedpost does not. Because Banqup supports both Peppol and national systems, so our customers comply with local regulations every time."
Trustee
To attract companies to Banqup, Unifiedpost works with accountants and their professional associations. ‘In France, for example, this is ECMA, which has chosen Unifiedpost's system,’ says de Beco. "Through our partnership with ECMA, we can reach 3 million of the 4 million French companies. I do not claim that Unifiedpost will bring in 3 million French companies. However, 3 million French companies will have the opportunity to use our platform Banqup, at the suggestion of their accountant, the fiduciary of choice for an entrepreneur."
Unifiedpost is careful not to become a competitor to accountants and other financial players. ‘Unifiedpost will not sell accounting software,’ de Beco says. "Banqup also includes a system for electronic payments, but we leave our customers free to continue making their payments through the bank. By the way, Banqup can connect to your bank, your accounting software, your customer follow-up system and other business processes. We remain an open platform."
With mandatory e-invoicing fast approaching, competition among invoicing platforms is intensifying. de Beco is confident. "We have everything we need to become the European market leader. What we need to do now is to actually get customers on board. Belgium and France alone have a combined 5 million companies that will soon have to e-invoice. 2025 and 2026 will be crucial years for Unifiedpost. Whether we will become the market leader, I'm not sure. But I am convinced of it."
Frame piece: The VAT gap
A key raison d'être for the e-invoice is more efficient VAT receipts, no luxury in these times of severe budget deficits. VAT declarations are quicker and more accurate, and VAT fraud becomes a lot easier to combat. That should help close the so-called VAT gap, the difference between expected and actually collected VAT revenue. According to figures from the European Commission, the gap reached €89 billion in the EU in 2022, representing an average 7% loss of VAT revenue. In Belgium, the gap was 4.5 billion euros, or over 12% of 36 billion euros of expected VAT revenue.
Original article was published by Trends Kanaal Z and can be found here
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