Have you ever seen a public company restate its ARR? In episode #296, Ben Murray dives into a real-world example from the London Stock Exchange—Celebrus Technologies—and unpacks why and how they updated their Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) definition.
Key Highlights:
Financial restatements ≠ just GAAP: ARR, a non-GAAP metric, is increasingly being scrutinized as pricing and revenue models evolve.
Case Study: Celebrus Technologies
Old ARR definition: Included license revenue, cloud, support & maintenance, third-party software licenses, and project revenue (i.e. services).
New ARR definition: Focuses solely on Celebrus software licenses and managed services—excluding third-party licenses and project revenue.
Why the change?
To better align with how peers in their sector define ARR.
To give investors a “cleaner” view of core recurring software revenue.
Impact of the change: ARR restated downward and now reported at 18.8M (FY25).
Ben’s take: This is a positive trend. While managed services are still debatable as “recurring,” overall transparency in ARR definitions is improving across public SaaS companies.
Bonus Insight:
ARR restatements, especially when they lower reported revenue, are rare—but this signals a maturing investor focus on true recurring revenue quality.
Upcoming Webinar:
Join Ben Murray and Ray Rike on July 17 as they explore how public SaaS companies are defining and calculating ARR.
>> https://thesaascfo.webinarninja.com/live-webinars/10693368/register
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