InnerWorkings reports record 2011 revenue

Thanks to several key acquisitions and some healthy organic growth among enterprise clients, Chicago-based print management services company InnerWorkings this week reported that 2011 revenues soared 31.4% over the previous year to $633.8m, while full-year profits were up 46.2% to $16.4m.

In a conference call with analysts to discuss the results, CEO Eric Belcher cited increased sales, profits and cash flow for the year, adding the company has also boosted its total number of employees by 300 to more than 1,000.

"At the beginning of 2011 we were in less than 10 countries," he added. "By year end that had grown to more than 40 and it's already grown again in 2012, most notably with the addition of Brazil."

Though the company is growing organically - and told the analysts that 2011 organic sales grew 17% over 2010 - InnerWorkings has made several key acquisitions in Latin America (Santiago, Chile-based CPRO) and Europe (Paris-based Production Graphics).  

Belcher said those acquisitions now enable the company to help its multi-national clients collaborate effectively across geographies, adding InnerWorkings is now working with 10 companies on multiple continents. "We believe that these capabilities simply do not exist anywhere else in our industry and are a powerful point of differentiation for us," he added.

Belcher told the analysts he expected overall marketing spends to be up modestly in 2012, matching but not exceeding GDP growth. But he suggested there are still plenty of opportunities for expansion for InnerWorkings especially as it begins expanding beyond the large multi-nationals into mid-size corporations.

"We've identified a large and underserved market that is very receptive to our low-cost high service offering," he said. "We'll continue to look to unlock the massive opportunity in the middle market."