Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee, commented:

"At the end of 2024, PensionBee celebrated ten years since inception and the launch of our US business, an important step in creating a global leader in the consumer retirement market. We continued to execute on our growth strategy, reaching £5.8 billion in Assets under Administration on behalf of 265,000 Invested Customers. We also delivered on our long-standing ambition of achieving Adjusted EBITDA profitability in the UK and delivered Adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the Group as well as making a significant investment in our US business.

In the UK, we optimised our marketing expenditure while growing our brand awareness, introduced our new sustainable investing option, the Climate Plan, and maintained an efficient operational approach to exceptional customer service. We continued to prioritise automation as the foundation for efficient customer and asset growth.

In the US, we established our diversified multi-medium marketing strategy, activating key channels such as search, social media, mobile app campaigns, email nurturing and public relations. We launched our native mobile app in December, enabling customers to access PensionBee through both app stores. Our £20 million capital raise in October 2024 will enable us to accelerate the growth of our US business in the coming years."

United Kingdom Operational Highlights

Over the past quarter PensionBee has continued to advance its strategic goals, growing its customer base and Assets under Administration through efficient customer acquisition and its decade long investment in brand awareness.

Efficient Investment in Customer Acquisition and Growing Brand Awareness:

PensionBee's UK business has continued to grow and invest in its brand and acquire customers efficiently. We invested £1m in diversified marketing activities across the quarter, optimising between channels to maximise our return on investment. We invested £9m in UK marketing across 2024, bringing the cumulative UK marketing investment since inception to £64m. Over 2024, our acquisition strategy has been concentrated on reaching customers with larger account balances, resulting in growth of 16% in the average UK account balance to c.£22,000 (Q4 2023: c.£19,000). This strategy has also resulted in an increase in Net flows per £ of Marketing Spend to £96 (FY 2023: £88). Cost per Invested Customer was stable (Q4 2024: £242 vs. Q4 2023: £241), highlighting the strength of the Company's marketing capability and efficiency of spend. Prompted Brand Awareness ended the quarter at 57%, whilst Unprompted Brand Awareness, reported now for the first time, was 15% demonstrating that PensionBee continues to solidify its presence in the UK as a trusted household name.⁸

Leadership in Product Innovation:

Throughout the year and the fourth quarter of 2024, PensionBee has remained committed to innovation, continuing to release and invest in valuable and engaging tools to meet the evolving needs of its UK customers. These tools have included performance analytics and retirement planning tools, designed to empower customers to make more informed decisions and plan more effectively for their future.

In the fourth quarter of 2024 the Company continued to listen closely to its customers, offering retirement solutions tailored to their needs. In December 2024, PensionBee introduced a new sustainable investing option, the Climate Plan, to existing customers. The Climate Plan was launched to new customers in January 2025. The Climate Plan excludes fossil fuel producers and also aims for total carbon emissions produced by investee companies to be reduced by at least 10% each year.

Focus on Excellent Customer Service:

Across the quarter, PensionBee has continued to deliver its industry leading customer service, as evidenced through the achievement of a 4.7★ Excellent Trustpilot rating from approximately 11,500 Trustpilot reviews (December 2023: 4.6★) and the maintenance of rapid customer response times.⁹

Delivering exceptional levels of customer satisfaction is central to PensionBee's ambition of retaining and serving its customers throughout their lifetimes, seeing them through retirement. As such, PensionBee maintained a Customer Retention Rate >95% across 2024 (Q4 2023: >95%).⁵

Investment in and Development of Leading Technology Platform:

During 2024, PensionBee continued to strengthen and invest in the scalability of its technology platform, which continues to be a driving force for PensionBee's competitive advantage. Ongoing investment in internal automation has resulted in further efficiency gains, reflected in a 20% productivity improvement year on year (Q4 2024: 1,333 Invested Customers / Staff Member vs. Q4 2023: 1,112 Invested Customers / Staff Member).¹⁰

United States Operational Highlights

In 2024, PensionBee entered the US market, the world's largest Defined Contribution pension market, in collaboration with our longstanding partner and one of the world's largest money managers, State Street, who will provide meaningful marketing support to PensionBee. PensionBee will pursue this substantial growth opportunity to reach millions of underserved Americans across the US, capitalising on its decade long investment in its scalable technology platform, leadership in product innovation and industry leading focus on excellent customer service to respond to the strong consumer demand for a simple and effective retirement solution.

Major Milestones Achieved in the US

In 2024, PensionBee US successfully finalised its commercial agreement with State Street, registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and launched a fully operational platform.

Since its SEC registration  in July 2024, PensionBee US has been advancing at a rapid pace, leveraging its scalable technology platform. This robust technological foundation has enabled PensionBee US to hit key milestones and progress at a faster rate than initially achieved in the UK, generating Revenue by December 2024.

Over Q4 PensionBee continued to build the foundations of its US business, rolling out further components of its multichannel, diversified marketing strategy and onboarding its first customers through early testing. The year concluded with the launch of the native mobile app on both the Google Play and Apple App Stores in December.

Over the coming weeks and months, PensionBee intends to launch its ROTH IRA and to continue building custom rollover journeys for the largest providers. PensionBee will also continue to build out its Safe Harbor IRA proposition, working with its partners at State Street, relevant third parties and potential clients.

PensionBee US is Progressing Rapidly¹¹

Group Financial Update

PensionBee has continued to deliver consistent and predictable Revenue growth, driven by the compounding nature of its Assets under Administration ('AUA'), ongoing Net Flow generation across cohorts and a stable Revenue Margin over Q4 2024 supported by >95% Customer and AUA Retention Rates reflecting the compounding nature of the asset base. Compounding growth has translated into predictable Revenue, with Revenue for the Group in 2024 of £33m (December 2023: £24m) and Annual Run Rate Revenue growth of 36% year on year to £38m (Q4 2023: £28m). PensionBee ended 2024 with a strong cash balance of £35m.

Predictable and Recurring Revenue Base

Note on Charts: Shaded bars on charts represent AUA. From bottom to top: Cohort 2016-2019 AUA, Cohort 2020, Cohort 2021 AUA, Cohort 2022 AUA, Cohort 2023 AUA, Cohort 2024 AUA, and Market Growth and Other AUA (darkest orange).

PensionBee's scalable business has continued to drive operating leverage and profitability. The UK Cost Base¹² for FY 2024 has remained stable at £(32)m (FY 2023: £(32)m), achieved through a combination of flat Money Manager Costs relative to Revenue, stable Technology Platform Costs and efficient marketing spend.

Business Scalability to Drive Margin Improvements

A combination of strong predictable Revenue growth, business scalability and strict cost discipline has continued to drive high growth and to generate a third consecutive quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA for the Group at £2m for Q4 2024 (Q4 2023: £1m) as well as Adjusted EBITDA Breakeven for the Group of £0.4m for FY 2024. These significant Group milestones have been supported by the achievement of UK Adjusted EBITDA profitability for FY 2024 of £2m (FY 2023: £(8)m), in line with guidance.

PensionBee UK Scalability and Profitability

Note on Charts: Charts relate to PensionBee UK only.   

The Cost Base¹³ for FY 2024 for the Group amounted to £(33)m, an increase of 2% (FY 2023: £(32)m). US marketing expenses of £1m have been fully reimbursed by State Street.

Group Financial Guidance Framework

Revenue Objectives:

●    PensionBee expects Revenue for the Group to exceed £30m for the full year 2024.

○    Delivered: PensionBee achieved Revenue of £33m for the Group.

●    Ambition to reach >£100m of Group Revenue in the short to medium term (by year 5), with a longer term (5 to 10 years) ambition to exceed £250m.

Profitability Objectives:

●    PensionBee expects to reach Group Adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the full year 2024.

○    Delivered: PensionBee achieved Adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the Group of £0m.

●    Ambition to reach Adjusted EBITDA Margin for the Group of approximately 20% in the short to medium term (by year 5), with a longer term (5 to 10 years) ambition to reach c.50%.