Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 7, 2024
Bentley Systems, Incorporated misses on earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.2107 EPS, expectations were $0.26. Bentley Systems, Incorporated isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Eric Boyer: Good morning and thank you for joining Bentley Systems’ Q1 2024 Results Webcast. I’m Eric Boyer, Bentley’s Investor Relations Officer. On the webcast today, we have Bentley Systems’ Chief Executive Officer, Greg Bentley; Chief Operating Officer, Nicholas Cumins; and Chief Financial Officer, Werner Andre. This webcast includes forward-looking statements made as of May 07, 2024, regarding the future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans, and objectives for future operations of Bentley Systems Incorporated. All such statements made in or contained during this webcast, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. This webcast will be available for replay on Bentley Systems Investor Relations website at investors.bentley.com on May 07, 2024.
I would like to mention that the 2023 infrastructure year book which explores the world’s top infrastructure projects is now available online at bentley.com/yii/yearbook. You can also order a printed version from the same link. Additionally, we have the ESG report which is available on our Investor Relations website. After our presentation, we will conclude with Q&A. And with that, let me introduce the CEO of Bentley Systems, Greg Bentley.
Greg Bentley: Good morning, and as always, thanks to each of you for your continued interest in BSY. Eric, thanks for setting the stage for our focus today. For all that we characterize and think of Bentley Systems as a no-drama company, we do realize that we’ve made news over the two-plus months since we’ve last been together. And of course, I’m talking about our press release and announcement in London of our CEO Transition Plan. After this quarter, I will retire from CEO responsibilities to become Executive Chair. As I will continue to oversee Investor Relations, I expect our quarterly operating results presentations to continue foreseeably with the same format and lineup as today’s. Given that I will turn 69 years old next week, I believe that my retirement as CEO has been reasonably anticipated.
The timing purposefully follows the completion of transitions throughout our Senior Executive ranks since the IPO in 2020 in favor of a literally rejuvenating new, and I consider improved, cohort of leaders. The generational improvement at my current position, handing the reins to a first-time CEO, is de-risked for everyone, I think, by virtue of an incoming Executive Chair. In that role, my priority will be to support Nicholas Cummins through and beyond the transition stage. And in addition to management of our Board activities and Investor Relations, I will continue to be responsible for capital allocation decisions, including platform M&A. By way of capital allocation, for now I am overseeing the Asset Analytics Initiative, which we introduced this year.
A transition to Executive Chair is probably unsurprising upon retirement of a founding tech company CEO, and most of you have heard me looking forward over the past few years to this change at BSY. But I find it interesting to see that this seems to be becoming the norm more generally, as reported by Board-level authority Spencer Stuart. Of all CEO transitions in the S&P 500 last year, the average age of incoming CEOs increased to over 56. So by contrast, we at BSY, with Nicholas at age 47, have purposely prioritized the capacity to perpetuate our long-term continuity. But our CEO transition is otherwise in common with the S&P 500 norm, as 78% of incoming CEOs like ours had never been CEO of a public company, and 74% were internal promotions like ours, and the former CEO became Executive Chair, as will occur in our case, and 41% of all S&P CEO transitions.
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