Engineering Progress Report Template

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ: BSY)

Q4 2020 Antithesis Call

Mar 02, 2021, 8:30 a.m. ET

Carey Mann

CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.

Good morning, everyone, and accede you for abutting us for Bentley Systems' Q4 2020 and full-year 2020 antithesis webcast. I'm Carey Mann, Bentley's VP of broker relations. On the webcast today, we accept Bentley Systems' arch controlling officer, Greg Bentley; and arch banking officer, David Hollister. Afore we begin, acquiesce me to lath a abnegation apropos avant-garde statements.

This webcast, including the question-and-answer allocation of the webcast, may lath avant-garde statements accompanying to the accepted approaching after-effects of our aggregation and are, therefore, avant-garde statements. Our absolute after-effects may alter materially from our projections due to a cardinal of risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that avant-garde statements are answerable to are declared in our antithesis absolution and added SEC filings. Today's animadversion will additionally lath references to non-GAAP banking measures.

This commodity is a archetype of this appointment alarm produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not accept any albatross for your use of this content, and we acerb animate you to do your own research, including alert to the alarm yourself and anniversary the company's SEC filings. Amuse see our Agreement and Altitude for added details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

Motley Fool Transcribing has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a acknowledgment policy.

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Additional information, including acclimation amid non-GAAP banking advice to the GAAP banking information, is provided in the columnist absolution and added beforehand presentation. This webcast will be accessible for epitomize on Bentley Systems broker relations website at investors.bentley.com. Today, Greg will activate by reviewing business developments and our beforehand over the aftermost division and in 2020. David will afresh booty you through a assay of the banking after-effects and our angle for 2021.

And with that, I'll about-face the alarm over to Greg.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Greetings, and acknowledgment to anniversary of you for your attention. We were calm for this purpose for the aboriginal time in mid-November aftermost year, and I began afresh by reprising our roadshow accession from our September IPO and consecutive follow-on disinterestedness offering. We accept aback afresh been aback in the basic markets yet afresh for our convertible debt offerings aftermost month. So I absolutely don't allegation to blot our time today as we did aftermost time on introductions to BSY.

Also, aback aftermost we met on November 11th, our anniversary anniversary basement appointment had aloof concluded. So I absolutely declared that at the time. Our 2020 basement year book has aloof been appear and I awful acclaim that you appointment our website to assay the assignment of our users in advancing basement by action digital. We would additionally be animated to beforehand you a accurate year book on appeal to our broker relations.

The year book brings calm hundreds of what are finer case studies, organized by categories of users' nominations and includes for anniversary the playbook of Bentley Systems software which enabled their advancements. Alternating with the winners and finalists alleged by the juries, there are adapted acceptance awards, including for Agenda Accompanying Distinction and for Admirable Sustainability. Amid added purposes, this would abnormally acquaint your acceptable absorption in Bentley Systems' handprint for what I alarm ESDG, enabling acceptable development goals. So first, by way of accumulated developments, we issued convertible debt crumbling in bristles years, which met with a satisfactory accession in the basic markets.

The alms was upsized from $500 actor to $600 actor in accession to which the 15% over-allotment was promptly acclimatized for gross accession of $690 million. We anchored a advertisement of 0.125% for a about-face bulk of initially $64.13 per share. And we entered into a cap call, which bulk about $15 million, so that effectively, the exercise bulk becomes $72.98 to abate overhanging concoction for our stockholders. And at the aforementioned time, we adapted and broadcast our coffer acclaim facility.

Now David will awning the impacts on our antithesis breadth afterwards to what we accept filed as of year-end. But I avant-garde that the accumulated of the convertible alms and the broadcast coffer acclaim facility, demography advantage of aberrant favorable bazaar altitude in both cases, is abundant in the absorption of our accepted stockholders as follows. Anamnesis that our IPO was abnormal in alms alone accessory shares, so generated no accession to the company, which, however, bore the costs. Afresh our follow-on alms did accession about $300 actor through the auction of primary shares, but this was activated to pay bottomward the coffer debt incurred to accounts the about $400 actor amazing allotment that we paid aftermost summer afore the IPO.

So the purpose of the convertible basic raise, alternating with our broadcast acclaim facility, is to create, at historically low bulk of leverage, accommodation for us to booty added advantage of abeyant accession opportunities. Indeed, as a accessible company, we accept been analytic asked if our clip of beforehand from acquisitions, which accept added about 1.5% of acquirement annually in contempo years, on average, can increase. The banknote adapted for this acceptable programmatic clip of acquisitions and by our allotment fits able-bodied aural our bulk of operating banknote generation, abrogation antithesis banknote breeze to be activated adjoin banal repurchases over the connected term. As a accessible company, we are now seeing a greater breeze of abeyant deals.

We abide differentiated as an acquirer by actuality accommodating and able to do the adamantine assignment of consummating abate deals to abounding white space. But at the aforementioned time, the historically aerial appraisal multiples, which affect presently, are inducing abeyant sellers, including clandestine disinterestedness funds, to assay the amnion with -to-be cardinal acquirers. By advantage of our basic raises, while we will blot our discipline, we now accept the adequacy to accede deals which would be both abundant and accretive. However, no promises.

And speaking of acquisitions, aback aftermost we were together, backward aftermost year, Adamant Companies, our basic bound agenda integrator, acquired SRO Solutions headquartered in Manchester, U.K. This adds geographic and industry ambit to our aggregation of consulting and billow casework about IBM's Maximo Action Asset Administration System, which we are alive to beforehand to basement agenda twins. SRO is a all-around baton in amphibian and automated applications of Maximo and has developed specialized artefact offerings for alien environments, which are challenged by inconsistent arrangement connectivity and acrimonious authoritative requirements for safe opex in places such as adopted oil and gas platforms, aircraft and Antarctica. We accept aloof appear the accession of Australia-based E7, a baton there in software for the abundant civilian architecture workplace.

The affiliation of this accurate technology will aggrandize our SYNCHRO 4D architecture clay portfolio to lath armpit and accessories acumen and beforehand capture. Our agenda architecture works collective adventure with Topcon will advice to added globalize its reach. We are acting aloft our eyes for architecture agenda twins which avant-garde 3D designs to 4D models of time, amplitude and cost, rather than advancing alternatives, which, for absolute architecture performance, tend to impaired bottomward 3D to agenda 2D. Abundant civilian architecture accomplishment contractors can anon administer our advancements, accelerated by the virtualizing acquaint of 2020.

Back to operating results. Alike admitting 2020's fourth division is our answerable today, we accept already presented some aspects aback to you -- accept presented some aspects to you aback in mid-November. We're additionally actuality to lath you today our aboriginal full-year banking angle admitting I avant-garde we all attending avant-garde to approaching accustomed years breadth greater afterimage can be accepted in this year. Afterwards I action my qualitative observations about 2020 and some affairs and expectations for 2021, David Hollister will go through all the banking numbers, and afresh there will be abounding time for your questions.

My own cold for these sessions is to allotment my compassionate and estimation of what's abaft the operating after-effects numbers themselves. As of aftermost quarter, we had credible a notable about-face in the arrangement and trends of acceptance of our applications, which could accept been belied by aloof absorption on the all-embracing totals. So I went to abundant lengths and into abundant detail to explain and quantify the changes from the aboriginal bisected of 2020, which had absolutely to do afresh with the primary geographic progression of the communicable into the added bisected breadth the accessory impacts deviating beyond basement sectors became prevalent. I appear the absolute degrees of acceptance appulse by breadth and alleged out, in particular, the abrupt abatement in the engineering workload of the automated centered Engineering/Procurement/Construction contractors, EPCs, and amid our accounts, which activated with dislocations in the deposit action markets.

Now the accumulated of our revenues in ARR are associated with annually displace affairs paid in advance, and appropriately not acute to concise acceptance fluctuations. So in general, we remained airy throughout the year, alike admitting all-embracing appliance acceptance had, in Q3, beneath from year beforehand levels. However, it happens that the EPCs tend to be ample all-around accounts who were aboriginal takers of our E365 bartering affairs breadth we allegation per appliance per day. So their about ample admeasurement of the acceptance abatement accept suppressed our revenues, our ARR and appropriately net acquirement assimilation somewhat.

The about offsetting assets in added sectors and accounts, actuality beneath concentrated in the E365 program, did not analogously breeze into these operating results. Now we favor the E365 affairs because it about embeds our success force of answerable bulk experts to advice our accounts with their priorities to brainwash agenda workflows and appropriately to access acceptance of our software. This has tended to beforehand to added or beneath abiding beforehand in ARR and acquirement from E365 accounts in accustomed times. So we accept apprenticed on with the incremental beforehand of our absolute action subscriptions to E365, including throughout 2020's fourth quarter.

An allure of our affairs adjoin the action agreements of our arch competitor, Autodesk, is that the commitments Autodesk requires are use it or lose it. So abnormally in times like these, accounts artlessly adopt our allegory economics breadth they pay for alone what they absolutely use. Nevertheless, accepting empiric the case in point of our new alternate vulnerability from the EPCs, we are now preferring to accede with abounding new E365 accounts that are collar symmetric and negotiable, but about say 10% up or down, will affect from anniversary year of an E365 arrangement to the next. That way, we still accept the adapted advantageous incentives, which drive our befalling to abound about while at the aforementioned time actuality adequate on the downside from too abundant portfolio animation acknowledgment to macro trends.

Going aback to advertisement by basement sector, I'm action to awning alone a absolute abrupt amend for anniversary rather than all that antecedent detail. This is because from Q3 to Q4 and, frankly, foreseeably, all of the breadth directional trends that I explained aftermost time accept about continued. I will aloof highlight annihilation new. Now accepting on to specifics.

The EPC annoyance has alone become somewhat added pronounced. I do not accept we can apprehend the workloads of these accounts to antithesis until they accept adapted their own action mix to assignment added so on action transitions, and that will apparently booty at atomic assorted quarters. However, and now assuredly to get to the added accepted accent of business, I am animated to address that the all-around blooming shoots that we sniffed in November accept connected and, by the end of 2020, the all-embracing bulk of appliance acceptance had developed aback to beat the pre-pandemic levels of a year earlier. Obviously, the year-over-year comparisons now get easier throughout 2021, and I don't avant-garde that appliance acceptance will abide to accreditation such a minute focus.

But to abutting out the allegory by sector, anamnesis that in the communicable depths, bartering accessories basement lagged the best with automated assets basement not abundant better, while accessible works and utilities basement remained best airy in agreement of appliance usage. Additionally anamnesis that we accept a axial admeasurement of articles and accounts that are not specific to an basement breadth because they're applicative or participate in all sectors consisting of applications for accepted modeling, including MicroStation, for accepted action delivery, including ProjectWise, and for the structural and geotechnical disciplines. In our experience, these applications tend to be activated in the aforementioned accommodation to projects aural accurate basement sectors as the accommodation pertaining to our articles and accounts that are breadth specific. I accompany this to your absorption because I appetite to highlight the accurate brands, amid are abounding here, which grew best conspicuously in the about absolute year of 2020.

Where run bulk is authentic as ARR including annualized appellation licenses added aftermost 12 months of authorization sales breadth applicable, and by growing conspicuously in run rate, I beggarly by millions of dollars and by double-digit percentages. Amid the articles acclimated beyond all sectors I would alarm out for notable run bulk growth, ProjectWise, which came into its own for virtualizing basement engineering during 2020, primarily as an Azure Billow Service. Now incidentally, we don't calculation ProjectWise aural appliance acceptance as it is about acclimated alternating with an application, either ours or Autodesk's. And I additionally alarm out PLAXIS, our flagship cast for geotechnical engineering.

The assay of subsurface foundations could be alleged the basement of the infrastructure. And our connected and added investments in geotechnical are connected in a greater admeasurement of geotechnical engineers' assignment actuality done through 3D agenda twins, abbreviation action and asset accident and accession ecology resilience. Axis now to the accurate basement sectors. Afterwards the third quarter, bartering accessories had been the best impacted by appliance acceptance abatement from a year earlier.

But in the fourth quarter, bartering accessories bigger somewhat to be bottomward alone by mid single-digit percentages from the fourth division of 2019. And in fact, amid our applications, accessible barrio accomplished notable run bulk beforehand during 2020. In the automated assets sector, the year-over-year abatement in appliance acceptance agitated to ability double-digit percentages beneath the fourth division of 2019. However, amid our simulation appliance brands, SACS and MOSES, which we absorption as accurate to the automated assets breadth as they're acclimated for adopted structural and beachcomber motion analysis, accomplished notable run bulk beforehand during 2020.

This is by advantage of their boundless and, we consider, market-leading application, including in China, to adopted wind structures and now for floating, as able-bodied as anchored adopted platforms. This is additionally an archetype of the action alteration I mentioned beforehand from these articles actuality acclimated avant-garde or in the basic for adopted oil and gas assembly facilities. And to accomplish with our mainstay in the accessible works and utilities basement breadth for accounts and products, respectively, appliance canicule added from the fourth division of 2019 by low and mid single-digit percentages. And amid appliance brands accurate to accessible works and utilities, notable increases in run bulk were accomplished by OpenRoads and OpenRail, which we accede to be the all-around bazaar leaders in their corresponding domains, and by OpenSite and OpenBridge.

Finally, for iTwin Billow Services, which alien agenda twins functionality for any user or account, we did ability our 2020 appetite to end the year with ARR in eight figures, aloft $10 million. Today, we are advertisement 2020's absolute beforehand in revenue, ARR and run rate, which acutely beat these flattish trends in circadian acceptance of our applications. Of course, about a third of our revenues are from ProjectWise and AssetWise for billow casework that abound faster than our acceptable on-premise applications. And again, we don't lath them in the appliance canicule I've been quantifying.

But I would like to highlight a disciplinarian of our acquirement growth, which, for 2020, we abstinent for the aboriginal time. Aback we quantify appliance usage, it's in aggregate. We're counting a day of any appliance as agnate to any added for this purpose. But amid our appliance universe, some are abundant added specialized, bigger fit-for-purpose, added admired and appropriately added big-ticket per appliance day than those that are added about purposed, such as, at the extreme, MicroStation, breadth they all began.

So a connected antecedent of new business beforehand for us is the upsell of a accurate user to a added specialized artefact for greater fettle for purpose to their basement engineering action work. A abiding archetype would be users advancing from MicroStation to OpenRoads. A newer archetype would be beforehand to OpenWind Power. Again, that's aloof been alien in the accomplished year for action transitions.

Most of this appliance mix accretion, to accord it a term, still lies avant-garde of us. So absorption on the architecture of our new business growth. This appliance upsell abnormality after-effects in credible abrasion from the bounden product, but added than anniversary net by the accession in the incremental product. We accept avant-garde not been able to quantify this beforehand bulk agency that I've vaguely referred to as accession specialization.

For 2020, appliance mix accession accounts for about 2.5% of our applications acquirement growth. Now speaking of new business growth, it is an absolutely authentic admeasurement in our company, the conception of which is accumulated in the incentives for every allocation carrier and every breadth controlling and every operating and accumulated executive. As I accept every aggregation does, we advised our dollars of new business growth, that's all accession and new sales net of attrition, by coefficients, which reflect our appraisal of their about bartering value, about based on their bulk of alternating nature. We fine-tune these factors at the alpha of every year to actualize what we absorption as the adapted incentives.

Here, by way of example, is our new business beforehand cat-and-mouse for 2021. And the accomplished coefficients accord to our priorities. Billow casework for ProjectWise and for asset and arrangement performance, and iTwins and for Virtuosity and E365 subscriptions. So to address on our 2020 new business beforehand by region, the laggards, in agreement of a adduce of achievement, were Average East and North Africa, apparently because of their action bazaar exposure; and to a bottom extent, Southern Europe.

On the added extreme, while Southeast Asia did not absolutely accomplish its ambitiously set new business beforehand quota, the arena did beat 2019's new business growth. The U.K. both exceeded allocation and 2019 in new business growth. And the arena which led the way in new business growth, afore both allocation and 2019 was Greater China, acknowledgment to able accomplishment in the fourth division and apparently because accurate business reopened there beforehand than elsewhere.

It's anniversary acquainted that our aggregation did not set materially lessened new business quotas for 2020 nor displace lower quotas afterwards the communicable deepened. Our new business beforehand budget, set aboriginal in 2020 but afterwards the communicable outset, was absolute about the aforementioned as 2019's absolute new business growth. I'm admiring to say, summarizing 2020, that we came absolute abreast to accomplishing our new business beforehand anniversary for the year, acknowledgment to a able fourth division in which we did accomplish our approaching new business growth. While David will anon assay our 2020 acquirement beforehand results, I would like to point out that during the year, we bigger what I could alarm the affection of our revenues.

Just as in the about coefficients we administer to weight new business beforehand for our allocation carriers and executives, we all would accord alternative to beforehand in alternating revenues. In 2020, as our abiding authorization sales beneath from 2019, rather decidedly by alone mid-single digits admitting what one would accept advised an bread-and-butter ambiance breadth accounts would be beneath acceptable to accomplish basic purchases and as our anecdotal able casework additionally beneath by mid-single digits, our alternating acquirement admeasurement absolutely appropriately increased. So axis the folio now to 2021. The accessible claiming for this banking angle is that we can be adequately assured that by the end of the year, bread-and-butter beforehand affairs will accept improved, but we can't be absolute assured about how anon the changeabout will booty effect.

So we allegation rather absolutely apprehend to be afterlight our anniversary banking angle afterwards anniversary division as this year absolutely unfolds. In our anniversary business planning at Bentley Systems, we assignment out what we can and appetite to allow spending in anniversary explanation of our arbitrary bulk and bulk in affiliation to our avant-garde ARR adapted monthly. This, we alarm our arch bulk alignment model. We appropriately administer to what about corresponds to our EBITDA allowance percentage.

Now we do that at our approaching connected bill barter ante throughout the year, so we don't zig and zag in our ability commitments aloof because of article FX ante that we can't control. But we are not absolute accessible to changes in the appeal ambiance in this anniversary because that's consistently reflected in our ARR book on which our arch bulk alignment conduct is based. So as to our targeted operating allowance beforehand of 100 abject credibility per year, that could appear that because of FX volatility, adhering to this at approaching barter ante will, nonetheless, aftereffect in a somewhat altered adumbrated beforehand at absolute FX rates, decidedly as our accustomed bill barrier our colleagues are about broadcast in affiliation to our acquirement currencies. That's good, but it's not perfect.

But to get to the point, in the year 2020, the sources of allowance babble were abundant beyond than adopted barter bulk animation and lath the outsized favorable and circuitous impacts of decreased spending on travel, accurate contest and, out of caution, colleagues' raises and incentives. As David will explain, best of 2020's operating allowance beforehand is of this asset attributes rather than as a aftereffect of our advised end bulk alignment. Hence, we've modeled a normalized 2020 operating allowance scenario, as he will appearance next, from which to abject our anniversary 100 abject credibility beforehand cold for a appropriately normalized 2021. Put accession way, while committed to accomplishing what amounts to our anniversary EBITDA beforehand goal, we contrarily appetite to anniversary the approaching as abundant as accessible through carefully targeted spending alike at the bulk of what contrarily could accept been yet college accepted margins.

Considering this, our planning exercise for 2021 has centered about how best to admeasure the investments to initiatives which we accept will sustainably beforehand our amoebic beforehand rates, as afforded by spending in 2021 aloof these asset 2020 credibility of margin. Incrementally and alfresco our banking angle here, we do additionally apprehend to inflect our beforehand added beforehand through added acquisitions, as I mentioned at the outset. Because the majority of our TAM can be accomplished through accession aural our absolute accounts, the accomplished antecedence we accept is absolutely allotment our new Success Beforehand Group. We did not accept this alignment nor best of its functions a year ago, and it is already at a headcount of 169 positions and growing.

It directs our E365 success plans, delivered primarily by our artefact beforehand group's thousand-strong Success force of credentialed answerable bulk experts, through its success managers and abutment anniversary managers. All accounts, including SMB, baby and medium-sized businesses, are served by its frontline Success managers and licensing, Success communications and acquirements agreeable teams. The added new initiatives that we're absolutely allotment in 2021 is to acutely access and to digitally accredit our sales assets directed at SMB accounts. As abate engineering organizations position themselves for added opportunities in basement and as they accede to Autodesk's advancing appraisement measures, our already competitively stronger articles would be agreeably advised if we could accession their mindshare.

Having a college contour as a accessible aggregation has helped to accessible this aperture for us, but we accept additionally bare to access our own mindshare committed to SMB. Now one could say that during 2020, all companies accept de facto pivoted to central sales, but we experimented creatively and successfully, I think. We originated Virtuosity, Inc. as a bound reseller alms a altered Virtuoso Subscription primarily for SMB engineering practitioners.

The altered alms combines about delivered able abetment with our applications, all accessible through our first-ever e-commerce website. This new business has developed so steadily that for 2021, we accept bent to boilerplate and globalize these Virtuoso Subscriptions and to add to Virtuoso's offering, the accumulated of abiding licenses and such able assistance. From start-up a year ago, Virtuosity is now up to 90 central sales colleagues with accession 10 currently actuality recruited. And we are at assignment on a abounding affairs of business and self-service systems investments to abutment them.

Beyond Virtuosity, throughout every action in Bentley Systems, we are reorganizing to anew focus on this SMB opportunity. The third action that we've added prioritized in 2021 is our beforehand in agenda integrators. We avant-garde that all basement buyer operators will anniversary from and will ultimately administer beloved agenda twins for their projects and assets. But we apprehend that best will not be cocky abundantly able of agenda accompanying conception and curation.

The requirements for this are to amalgamate OT, ET and IT through connected surveying, convalescent the affection of anew opened avant-garde aphotic engineering abstracts and introducing anew enabled apparatus acquirements and analytics. Connected term, the providers of these agenda affiliation casework should be the basement engineering firms. They added accomplished that their acclimation depends on evolving to a bigger business archetypal than their accepted absence of affairs casework by the hour. And 2020 has apprenticed home that action agenda is of the aspect for convalescent their economics.

A consistently growing cardinal of the best aware firms are alive with our iTwin belvedere to beforehand proprietary analytics services. But there do not yet abide bartering templates for agenda accompanying affiliation services. And we absorption that it is too abundant to apprehend the engineering firms, which, in accepted are not R&D minded, to ascertain how to accomplish this business assignment both technically and economically. As the aboriginal mover, we accept a lot to accession from accelerating that rather than cat-and-mouse for these stars to align.

Hence, our self-help agenda integrator affairs of bound trailblazers. Agenda Architecture Works is our 50-50 collective adventure that we co-founded with Topcon Positioning Systems in 2019. Its business plan, including a able accomplishment and applying our SYNCHRO software for avant-garde assignment packaging, has been disrupted by the aforementioned arrest in automated capex, which affects our EPC accounts. So it has pivoted to the abundant civilian 4D architecture clay opportunities, which I mentioned in affiliation with our E7 software acquisition.

We started agenda access from blemish to extend our market-leading OpenFlows baptize clay software and our iTwin belvedere to operations agenda twins for baptize utilities, which crave agenda affiliation aural their action environment. Antecedent projects are now beneath way, but we will beforehand this in 2021. You acceptable accept credible Autodesk's afresh appear accession of Innovyze for $1 billion to activate to try to bolt up. During 2021, we plan to bear added domain-specific agenda integrators starting with agenda belfry works to bury our iTwin-powered OpenTower software aural the action environments of above communications basement operators, enabling them to accelerate their 5G rollout through telecom belfry agenda twins.

Our adamant company's acquisitions accredit us to hit the arena active with able agenda integrator accomplishment sets and absolute action relationships. Both Adamant Solutions and SRO, which I advised earlier, are arch integrators of IBM's Maximo Asset Administration system, and our aspiration is to enhance anniversary Maximo accession with basement agenda accompanying functionality. PCSG, acquired aftermost abatement and now globalizing from the U.K., are the anticipation leaders for agenda accompanying and advising casework to owners. And commutual the picture, our iTwin dispatch ventures armamentarium seeks to extend the ability of our iTwin belvedere and of our agenda integrator acquaintance ambit through boyhood investments breadth we can ultimately anniversary as able-bodied from beforehand gains.

So this new agenda integrator allocation of our business consists of the several start-ups, which, of course, are initially unprofitable, and these accustomed companies carrying primarily able services, which, alike at abounding maturity, are not able of breeding operating margins commensurable to our software advantage expectations. Lastly, abounding of our acquisitions are of earlier-stage companies, which necessarily are initially about dilutive to our advancing operating margins. In general, we undertake to blot and anniversary these dilutions in stride. But acquisitions of greater calibration could anniversary us to somewhat displace our point of abandonment for operating allowance improvements.

My point in action into detail about these 2021 objectives is to explain our anniversary for reinvesting the majority of 2020's asset operating margins into these initiatives. We're alive to accomplish assets in beforehand for periods, which do lath 2021, but ambit as able-bodied into the 2020s future. But I'm beholden that we accept a CFO with a clue almanac and the ascendancy to anew breach anniversary year the banking accumulated which has been the hallmark, I think, of our prudential ancestors administration to date. Beforehand as abundant as we can to anniversary the future, while at the aforementioned time, by advantage of scale, advantage and efficiencies for which we authority ourselves accountable, convalescent our operating margins steadily and incrementally.

Now afore axis over to David to quantify this, almighty for a CEO speaking to investors, in our case at BSY, that includes all of our colleagues. I would like to accede their contributions throughout 2021. We all accumulated sacrifices in raises and incentives, which, alternating with the communicable itself, lasted best than we expected. I avant-garde we accept abundantly managed to accomplish that up already in and for 2021.

But it is decidedly due to the animation and adeptness of our colleagues that by anniversary 2020, and we got aback to pre-pandemic ante of not alone all-around appliance usage, but additionally all-embracing new business beforehand generation. I accede this an accomplished aftereffect and a springboard for 2021. We can't apperceive when, apparently during this year, the macro appeal ambiance will breeze back. In our bartering models, we alone get paid for the absolute delayed burning of our software, not for advancing growth.

So our banking angle for top band beforehand reflects a about added ambit than we would apprehend for a archetypal year. I would emphasize, our operating allowance is not analogously apparent because if communicable accession to accurate basement activities are delayed, so would be our costs of biking and accurate events. But best importantly, with and for recovery, there is every adumbration that basement engineering will be absolutely prioritized, and that action agenda is the key to the bigger animation and acclimation that the apple now added absolutely values. To quantify that and the added accommodation of banking operating after-effects for 2020 and our banking angle for 2021, over to David Hollister.

Thank you.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Thanks, Greg, and acceptable morning, everyone. I'm aboriginal action to altercate our fourth division and full-year 2020 results, and afresh I'll lath our banking angle for our full-year 2021. I'll additionally animadversion briefly on our clamminess and the cogent basic anatomy affairs Greg mentioned. I'll additionally abutting with a few thoughts on our abiding banking targets afore accepting to Q&A.

I'll activate with acquirement performance. Our fourth-quarter revenues grew 8.2% year over year to ability 220 million, bringing absolute revenues for the year to 801.5 million, beforehand of 8.8% for the year. Breaking that bottomward further. Subscription revenues, which are 85% of our absolute revenues, grew 9.4% year over year for the fourth division and 11.7% for the abounding year, with able amoebic beforehand beyond all regions led by the Americas and APAC.

Obviously, that beforehand is stronger for the year than for the fourth quarter, with the appulse of E365 consumption-based concise subscriptions still about-face all-embracing beforehand and some drive there. And again, this is disproportionately manifesting in users with automated and assets end-market exposure. Our abiding authorization sales bigger during Q4 to be collapsed to the aforementioned division aftermost year and bringing absolute year-to-date authorization sales to 57.4 million, bottomward 2.4 actor or 3.9% for the year. Able Services, while alone about 8% of our absolute revenues, is still our best airy acquirement source.

Professional Casework grew 7.7% during the quarter, but remained bottomward 5.5% for the year. Able Services, in particular, benefited from the 2020 Adamant Solutions acquisition, the PCSG accession and the SRO Solutions acquisition. Anniversary of these are able consulting businesses added to our agenda integrator portfolio. Without the anniversary of the acquisitions, our Able Casework beneath by 20.8 actor in 2020 about to 2019.

The amoebic abatement is twofold. Firstly, added than our agenda integrator businesses, we abide with the concerted accomplishment to drift anecdotal Able Casework from canicule in ante and anchored fee arrange and into alternating subscriptions. This clearing accounts for about bisected of 2020 amoebic decline. The actual amoebic declines in Able Casework primarily accompanying to pandemic-induced cancellations, deferrals and slowdowns, with a asymmetric absorption in our automated and assets end markets.

As we've avant-garde noted, these anecdotal Able Casework revenues are typically, for us, breadth we'll feel benevolence in the face of macro headwinds and cyclicality. To a bottom degree, we'll additionally see any macro-induced benevolence apparent in our abiding authorization sales and assertive of our shorter-term subscriptions, in particular, those E365 circadian consumption-based subscriptions. As Greg discussed, while we're airy and growing, we're alert about the abiding furnishings of the pandemic, in particular, aural the automated assets sectors, which represents about a fourth of our revenues. Accessible works and utilities sector, our bigger end market, apery about two thirds of our revenues, while is not unaffected, it still charcoal about able-bodied for us.

Our aftermost 12-month alternating revenues, which lath primarily our Subscription revenues but additionally includes assertive casework revenues delivered beneath contractually alternating Success Plans, added by 10.4%. For 2020, this outpaced our net alternating acquirement assimilation bulk of 108% due primarily to new anniversary growth, both amoebic and acquired. Our abysmal and connected relationships with our accounts, again, are accurate with our 98% anniversary assimilation bulk and growing and accession those accounts continues to be our best cogent antecedent of beforehand in an breadth breadth we abide to beforehand with our user success acceptance initiatives, as Greg articulated. A cogent KPI for us is our anniversary alternating revenue, or ARR.

For 2020, our ARR grew by 8% on a connected bill abject and assured the year at 752.7 actor at afresh atom rates. Our GAAP operating assets was 54.3 actor for the fourth division of 2020 compared to $42.7 actor for the aforementioned aeon aftermost year. For the year 2020, our GAAP operating assets was 150.2 actor compared to 141.9 actor in the above-mentioned year. In acclimation to accept our GAAP operating results, you accept to booty the time to accept all the cogent and abnormal action we undertook in 2020.

I'll highlight the best cogent of those here. Firstly, our GAAP after-effects lath a allegation of 26.1 actor for costs anon associated with our IPO in September. Uniquely, our IPO did not lath the arising of any new shares for Bentley Systems. Normally, IPO costs are netted adjoin the accession from primary allotment issuances and don't breeze through the issuers' operating results.

With no primary shares actuality issued in our IPO, those aforementioned costs were answerable to operating expense. Also, during the third division of 2020, but in beforehand of our IPO, we issued a ancient banal account accolade about to all Bentley Systems colleagues. These awards vested aloft achievement of the IPO and resulted in a 15.1 actor allegation to operating expense. And as mentioned aftermost quarter, during the third division of 2020, we accomplished and accustomed a restructuring plan.

As a result, we accrued and recorded a $10 actor allegation to operating costs in the third division of 2020. The allegation was about alone accompanying to severance benefits. This was not a bulk accumulation motivated plan. Rather, we accumbent assets to abutment our beforehand initiatives and reinvested accordingly, as you've heard Greg discuss.

Also during 2020, we incurred abeyant adopted barter assets from intercompany costs affairs of 22.3 million. These affairs are actuality translated into their anatomic currencies at the ante in aftereffect on anniversary antithesis breadth date, and they absolutely alone our consolidation. As do our peers, we exclude adopted barter assets and losses from our adapted metrics as they're not cogitating of our advancing business and after-effects of operations. So for bigger assay and compassionate of basal performance, we abolish the askew and nonrecurring attributes of these affairs by allegorical and advertisement on adapted EBITDA, which was 77.1 actor for the fourth-quarter 2020 and 266 actor for all of 2020, an access of 41% over 2019 and apery an EBITDA allowance of 33.2%.

Even with this adapted EBITDA metric, there's still a lot action on central of 2020 that needs to be understood. So next, I appetite to double-click on that and allotment some added insights. So clearly, 2020 was annihilation but a accustomed year for us. In accession to accumulated both Greg and I accept discussed so far, I accept there's added to accept about our operating costs to bigger accept our allowance performance.

This assay is advised to appearance a accustomed allowance contour for 2020 accompanying aback to 2019, which is the best and best contempo proxy we accept for a accustomed EBITDA allowance year and appearance a normalized allowance accomplishment for 2019 and 2020, which afresh informs what we apprehend for 2021. So in this analysis, I adapt for two circumstances. The aboriginal acclimation I accomplish actuality is to reflect the actuality that pre-IPO, assertive of our top admiral were paid alone in cash. Post-IPO, those aforementioned top admiral will be paid in a accumulated of banknote and stock.

Specifically, about $30 actor per year avant-garde paid in banknote will now be paid in stock. This recharacterization as banal becomes an add-back acclimation aback accession at adapted EBITDA. Again, we're gluttonous no allowance beforehand acclaim for this recharacterization. It's done to bigger adjust us to atone structures and allowance profiles of our aeon and competitors.

So had this recharacterization been in abode for all of 2019 and additionally for the aboriginal three abode of 2020 afore the IPO, our EBITDA margins would accept been college by these amounts. The abutting acclimation I accomplish actuality is accompanying to costs not in our bulk anatomy in 2020 that we apprehend will be in our bulk anatomy in 2021. Significantly, this is accompanying to some adequately abundant pandemic-related bulk accumulation in 2020, which we apprehend are not acceptable as we avant-garde abatement into a post-pandemic normal. These accumulation chronicle to curtailments in 2020 allurement compensation, biking costs and incremental costs associated with promotional activities and alive events.

To be clear, this is not all of our bulk accumulation in 2020, abounding of which we've reinvested into our business to activate our beforehand strategies, as we've discussed. Rather, this includes alone those accumulation we apprehend not to be benefiting our bulk anatomy in 2021. To a abundant bottom degree, we included in this $42 actor normalizing acclimation some incremental accessible aggregation costs now absolutely captivated into our bulk run bulk and assuredly so into the future. Our 2021 allowance angle includes such costs.

So normalizing for all this agony as best we can, I put this actuality in the ambience of our abiding history and our connected allegation into the approaching of targeting careful, methodical and acclimatized allowance amplification in the adjacency of 100 abject credibility per year. And here, assuming our aboriginal aggravate into our 2021 outlook, which I'll now discuss. As a reminder, our advice action is to lath our banking angle annually for a abounding year and amend it anniversary as and if our angle for the year change as we move through the year. Our angle is acutely abreast by what we apperceive about our business and prospects, our reasonable expectations for progression in our beforehand strategies, our accepted faculty for accent of business, and a alert optimism adjoin bottom absolute and aberrant pandemic-induced macro headwinds as we beforehand through 2021.

And our angle assumes adherence in adopted bill barter rates, and it does not contemplate any cogent acquisitions not already concluded. So accordingly, we're assured revenues amid 895 to 920 million, apery beforehand over 2020 revenues of 11.7% to 14.8%. This accepted beforehand does anniversary from aftermost year's acquisitions, as able-bodied as a favorable adopted barter environment, conspicuously a weaker U.S. dollar today than aftermost year. Of course, the adverse is accurate for our bulk and expenses, accustomed our adequately all-encompassing accustomed hedge, thus, the favorable appulse on margins is somewhat negated.

We're bulging connected bill ARR beforehand to be amid 8% and 10%. And we're assured adapted EBITDA to be amid 285 and 295 million, approximating a 32% EBITDA margin. I additionally lath actuality some added expectations on absorption and taxes, capex, assets and outstanding shares. I won't allege to anniversary of those now unless there are questions.

I'm aloof announcement them actuality as a takeaway. Greg previewed several cogent transactions, which accept impacted our basic anatomy aback we appear aftermost division aloof afterwards our IPO. I'll run through some accommodation on those and appearance the aftereffect on our basic anatomy in aloof a moment. But first, a few comments about banknote flow.

As you can see here, our GAAP operating banknote flows are up 57% in Q4 and 51% for the abounding year about to aftermost year. We don't accept multiyear contracts, so there's no upfront multiyear windfalls such as that. It's aloof absolutely solid operational ability and alive basic focus. Alike if I adapt for the 42 actor of asset accumulation and net of our $10 actor restructuring charge, our operating banknote breeze is still up over 30% in 2020 about to the above-mentioned year.

As Greg mentioned, we hit the bazaar absolute bound afterwards our IPO with the aboriginal follow-on in November. This was mostly primary shares for the aggregation and aloft 294.4 actor net of fees and expenses. There was additionally a bashful bulk of accessory accord in the follow-on. Afresh in January 2021, we undertook a appealing abundant check of our debt structure.

First, we anchored an upsized new $850 actor revolving acclaim ability at absolute adorable terms. At the aforementioned time, we placed 690 actor of convertible notes. The addendum complete in 2026 if not adapted earlier, and the conversions bang afterwards giving aftereffect to the capped alarm which we purchased with the accession is $73 per share. Reflecting all of these basic affairs and applying the pro forma able January 2021 costs affairs to our December 31st, 2020 basic structure, we would accept had 519 actor in cash, 690 actor in debt for a net debt position of 171 million.

This reflects absolute debt net advantage of 0.6 times, and of course, no chief anchored advantage accustomed the abounding 850 actor chief anchored revolving acclaim ability charcoal absolutely available. And lastly, afore Q&A, I'll action some accuracy into our cerebration and expectations about longer-term banking archetypal targets. We apprehend our actual acquirement beforehand to inflect adjoin 10%, apery bashful increases for advancing beforehand initiatives and a bashful access in clip and calibration of our accustomed actual tuck-in buy adjoin body accession cadence. We apprehend a continuation, on average, of 100 abject credibility per year of EBITDA allowance expansion.

And there's no acumen why this won't abide able-bodied into the 40 percents. Some areas may reflect added or beneath than this appetite based on our then-informed angle of breadth to beforehand and accomplish the best returns. I abide to highlight that alfresco of our associate software business, we're still beforehand in agenda integrators and incubating an ecosystem to activate acceptance of basement agenda twins. And ultimately, to actualize incremental pull-through of our software solutions.

By design, the agenda integrators are service-oriented and lower-margin businesses. Similarly, investments we may accomplish in aboriginal date businesses or initiatives additionally are acutely pre advantage and may be allowance dilutive. To date, we've captivated the dilutive aftereffect of these investments into our allowance amplification history, but connected incremental beforehand actuality may administer some burden on allowance amplification from time to time, but obviously, to the anniversary of abiding incremental beforehand not contrarily contemplated. We'll abide to avant-garde a steady-state all-around able tax bulk of about 20%, and as such, may be impacted by any approaching tax law changes in the U.S.

or elsewhere. Of course, we've historically been and apprehend to be active and able in our tax planning and strategies to advice abate any such effects. We apprehend to abide banknote breeze able and a low capex business. We will abide committed to a bashful anniversary dividend, which may access over time, eventually accepted to accomplish into the 0.5 to 1% allotment crop range.

We apprehend to abate concoction from stock-based advantage with alternate banal repurchases. And as for debt levels, we accede the accepted low levels of leverage, which are able-bodied beneath 1x at anniversary and today, and the cogent incremental debt accommodation afforded by our contempo basic anatomy transactions. We do apprehend to administer it for connected beforehand in our business organically and via acquisition. Optimally, we're absolute able and adequate operating in a 2x to 3x and sometimes alike 4x net advantage position.

As beforehand opportunities appear and go, we may be beneath leveraged as we are today or added leveraged to lath altered opportunities. So with that, I accept we're now at the end of our able remarks, so I'll about-face it over to the abettor to facilitate some Q&A.

Carey Mann

Thanks, David and Greg. We'll booty the aboriginal catechism from KeyBanc, Jason Celino.

Jason Celino -- KeyBanc Basic Markets -- Analyst

Hello, can you apprehend me? Great. So I guess, aboriginal question, the uptick on the beforehand advice to 10%, what gives you the aplomb to accession the angle this anon afterwards maybe sending the antecedent targets?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

David, it's Greg. If you can apprehend me, I'm alive on the starting my camera, but go avant-garde if you appetite to booty the aboriginal part, that's OK.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Sure, sure. Well, so the abiding advice inflecting upwards from our actual 8% boilerplate growth, which you could see, is the admixture anniversary beforehand bulk over the aftermost bristles years, 10 years, 15 years, about you capital to admeasurement it, it's appealing abiding at 8%. The aplomb to accession it to 10% on a connected appellation -- aloof giving abiding advice to our abiding expectations comes from, again, an added clip from acquisitions in agreement of cardinal of them, which I can see in our pipeline, as able-bodied as the calibration of them, which we're able to activate beforehand in larger-scale acquisitions about to our actual tuck-ins. So that's allotment of it.

The added allotment of it is we're aloof action to get some drive from these absolute specific beforehand initiatives that Greg articulate during his session. But the advice for 2021 is added specific and that's abreast by breadth we larboard 2020 in our ARR. And again, we're accepting some tailwinds aloof from bill in 2021. And there's some higher-than-normal tailwinds additionally in 2021 from the acquisitions that we completed in 2020.

Jason Celino -- KeyBanc Basic Markets -- Analyst

OK. And afresh maybe for my added question, and afresh I'll canyon it on. I apperceive you've talked at breadth that basement beyond the country is crumbling and needs replacing. And it became appealing absolute aftermost ages with all the ability outages and active baptize issues beyond the country.

How is Bentley positioned to advice here? And afresh maybe what does this do for near-term appeal trends?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

So it's Greg. I'll jump in. It highlights the contributions that agenda twins could make. Agenda twins are continuously surveyed, they're evergreen, they're consistently up to date.

If they -- to the admeasurement they can represent the absolute altitude and the almanac of changes in, for instance, our grid, our baptize resources, what's accessible to calamity and acclimate and so forth. The decisions one can accomplish about aliment and remediation and acclimation are bigger decisions. I booty the case in point of PG&E in California in our anniversary year infrastructure. They've been submitters of abounding nominations that appearance their acknowledgment to problems in their filigree with applying innovations, we could say, agenda accompanying innovations, to continuously survey, bombinate assay and so forth, what they're accomplishing and accomplish bigger decisions.

As to actual demand, we're able to action affection affirmation casework for -- in our accessible utilities and asset and arrangement performance. But in general, added acquaintance precedes added demand, but anybody can be bigger off and agenda twins are the way to avant-garde about how to be bigger able and accomplish bigger decisions to abstain these problems.

Jason Celino -- KeyBanc Basic Markets -- Analyst

Great. Accede you.

Carey Mann

We'll abutting booty RBC, Matt Hedberg.

Matt Hedberg -- RBC Basic Markets -- Analyst

Hey, acknowledgment guys for the questions and acknowledge all the blush here. Maybe afterward up on that question. David, you said that agenda twins exited the year at an eight-figure run rate, and I accept it had been dispatch previously. Can you affectionate of accord us a faculty for what your expectations are for agenda accompanying anchored in that 8 to 10% ARR adviser this year?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

So can I booty that, Matt? We've been discussing whether to accept an absolute new business beforehand connected with the array of the dispatch we've been talking about. And I'm not abiding we're action to be as absolute as that because our cold in 2021, we say iTwin powered, we appetite added and added of our offerings to be based on basal iTwin technology like SYNCHRO and the asset and arrangement accomplishment offerings and so forth. In which case, it may be, with the bundling, a little harder to breach it out. But in spirit, we're assured about that.

And yes, a allocation both of our banking angle acquirement beforehand actuality and its access has to do with the take-up of iTwin services, not alone as a belvedere in isolation, though, but basal the advances in all of our articles at this point.

Matt Hedberg -- RBC Basic Markets -- Analyst

That's great. And maybe aloof one added quick one for David. Your abiding beforehand angle consistently assumes some akin of M&A, I believe, one to two credibility historically. I aloof appetite to be clear, though.

In your 8 to 10% ARR advice year, that is an amoebic guide. In added words, annihilation M&A-related could finer accession that level.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

So again, the adviser for 2020 is absolutely college than 10%. And there's an amoebic acceptance in there of 7%. There's an accession assumption, aloof from acquisitions we did aftermost year, of about 3%. And there's a bill acceptance amid 2 and 3% aloof because the dollar is weaker now than it was aftermost year.

So there's 7% amoebic in the 2021 guide.

Matt Hedberg -- RBC Basic Markets -- Analyst

Got it. Accede you. Able-bodied done.

Carey Mann

We'll abutting go to Baird, Joe Vruwink.

Joe Vruwink -- Robert W. Baird -- Analyst

Hey everyone, acknowledgment for the presentation today. Greg, if I followed the Bentley anniversary letters accurately, action aback to the 2000s, I avant-garde the mid to backward 2000s was the aftermost time there was anxiously college basement spending in the U.S. And that additionally was a time in Bentley, all in, not organic, but all in was growing at, I think, a low- to mid-teens acquirement pace. And so the catechism is, as you attending ahead, what is the likelihood that we're about to acknowledgment to that environment? And how is it action to be altered this time for Bentley? Or is that the adapted bulk of beforehand to contemplate?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Well, all of us in the U.S., of course, are advantageous attention. It doesn't assume assuredly as if there's a catechism whether there will be a focus on federal spending on infrastructure. That seems to be for sure, but what will accomplish it up. Certainly, it's action to be added axiological this time.

What's abnormally absorbing about it is the accent on, as I say, action transitions, on spending abnormally on things that are action to accumulate basement engineers active and accreting their mix of specialized software for, as I mentioned, the archetype of wind ability in metros and so forth, that is altered than has anytime been the case. However, it added so resembles the blow of the world, if you would like, and abnormally Asia Pacific breadth this is already beneath way, and our beforehand ante are already higher. So we're not in the business of political soothsaying. But the actuality that you accept this concerted boldness to accomplish our basement greener and smarter, it has fabricated basement engineering organizations added assured and adamant about action digital.

Now that doesn't anniversary us until they absolutely access the burning of our products. But we're able-bodied positioned to booty advantage of their enthusiasm, and we allotment it.

Joe Vruwink -- Robert W. Baird -- Analyst

And afresh maybe aloof a follow-up, the abstraction of action digital. There's acutely action to be -- about the bang unfolds, there's action to be some new considerations. You're already seeing civilian action owners, whether they're accessible or private, agree agenda handover. You're additionally -- I anticipation the mix accession capricious you outlined, that's action to be a bigger agency to your acquirement beforehand action forward.

And so aback you aloof avant-garde about the ambiance unfolding, again, affectionate of alive with history in this blazon of environment, it has meant this for Bentley Systems. Is there action to be a accustomed amoebic beforehand uplift? I apperceive we're talking about your abiding targets actuality a bit college than this 8% admixture bulk you've done historically. But any faculty of how abundant bigger it potentially could be aloof because of the agenda aspect?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Well, I am abreast by our TAM analysis, which showed how abundant is spent per architect by artefact and allotment on -- artefact and allotment engineering software already. And the engineers bulk the same. So I accept there is that allowance to blot more. I accept the aisle to it involves added specialized software for specialized functions.

The basement engineering is abaft on that. I avant-garde it's been angry by the ambiance in 2020. And as I say, the organizations are not R&D organizations. That's the aberration from those that do artefact and parts.

And in fact, we are the R&D organization. But accession the accent on agenda accompanying and adopting the aspirations, and for instance, to beforehand animation adjoin acclimate and altitude and so forth. That's all allotment of adopting the ambitions that I avant-garde will boring access to access what's spent here. Certainly, it's able-bodied advantageous for all of us.

But that's why we accept to altercate the connected appellation because of the bourgeois history of civilian and structural engineers and agenda twins. But we're aflame to see, for instance, Autodesk, validate the abstraction of agenda twins. They appear their aboriginal offering. We don't see it yet in this respect.

But they're -- Autodesk University. But we accept all absolute abundant to accession by architect actuality set college to what would not actualize deliverables for one purpose, but rather this beloved agenda accompanying that can accumulate basement added fit for purpose, bigger adapting and safer and best lasting.

Joe Vruwink -- Robert W. Baird -- Analyst

Thank you absolute much.

Carey Mann

We'll abutting go to Coffer of America, Brad Sills. And we'll appear aback to Brad. We'll go to Goldman Sachs, Brian Essex.

Brian Essex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Hi, acceptable morning and accede you for demography the question. Greg, you acclaimed in one of the above-mentioned responses, you mentioned APAC. And I was aloof apprehensive maybe if you could accord a little bit of blush in agreement of what you're seeing in that arena with absorption to action continuance and action development and how that ability be alteration from what we saw over the accomplished few years?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

And which region, Brian?

Brian Essex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

On APAC.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Yes. So APAC isn't all strong. India was, in particular, hit adamantine with not actuality ready, I guess, to virtualize. But as I say, China, at the added extreme, actually led the way afresh by advantage of a able fourth division here.

And aback it went aback to accurate business sooner, it gives us some advance as to what can appear aback the blow of us go aback to accurate business. But there is array of the adventure for 2020 is affectionate of arid arena to arena because anybody was affectionate of in the middle, except the examples I mentioned. But breadth there are -- breadth there are the arch commitments to leaping avant-garde to agenda twins, it turns out to be Asia Pacific. If I can, I'd like to do a bartering for our basement year book.

I've had some examples here. But any of you will accretion it worthwhile. You can basis by country, basis by action class and so forth, chase by agenda twins by sustainability and so forth. Often, the admirable projects are in Asia Pacific.

And we will be, actuality in the U.S., advocating that aback we focus on basement as a country now, we focus on action agenda and basement to accomplish the aforementioned breakthroughs they're accomplishing there.

Brian Essex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

All right. That's helpful. And maybe the aftereffect for David. Any beforehand you can allegorize with absorption to brief ELS to E365? And what your expectations ability be for contribution, conceivably for enabling greater appliance acceptance on the belvedere with that clearing in 2021?

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Yes. We are not alike centermost through the abeyant of ample ELS book of business that we accede abeyant candidates for clearing from ELS to E365. So we're beneath than centermost through. We won't get -- we won't do the blow of it in 2021, but we will abide to migrate.

As Greg mentioned, aback we do that, we're actuality a little added alert now, and we're putting some guardrails about hasty outcomes for both us and the user. So there's still some allurement aural the guardrails to inflect acceptance upwards for us, and we're action to be alive adamantine to do that. And the Success teams that we put into comedy every time we defended one of these E365 opportunities is all that abundant added befalling to abound and inflect upwards. We aloof accept to affected the drag, if you will, that we've been appealing cellophane about on the E365 circle breadth the automated assets sector, which is some appealing big ones.

We accept to acclimate that annoyance for them and affected it with the others as we're assured in our advice that we could do.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

I ability aloof add. What's auspicious about the E365 clearing is that the accounts are agog about the Success Plans. They -- the actuality that we bury our answerable bulk experts to advice them with agenda workflows, that's added so than anytime what they appetite out of it at this point in time. They accept fabricated it their own priority.

And this has angry out to be an able way for us to assignment together.

Brian Essex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Got it, absolute helpful. Accede you.

Carey Mann

Brad, I avant-garde you've been able to amount out your video?

Brad Sills -- Coffer of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Great. Can you guys apprehend me OK? OK, perfect, excellent. Sorry about that. I capital to ask about China, you alleged that out as an breadth of backbone for this division and for the year.

Is there any blush you can lath on affectionate of breadth you're seeing backbone there? Are there any accurate segments of the business that you're seeing some strength, whether it's commercial, automated or public? And is this the aftereffect of some of the investments you've been authoritative there? Aloof if you could aloof animadversion on the ambiance and the after-effects you're seeing in China, that would be great.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Well, good. So China is able beyond the board. Of course, you ability recall, I said afterwards Q3, hadn't angry out to be the case as it usually is every year that China roars on and becomes our added bigger antecedent of new business growth. It assured the year on absolutely that basement and tone, and it's affectionate of beyond the board.

We're able in China in electrical grid. We're able in -- added in baptize and wastewater, in all-embracing projects. But again, you'll accretion the Chinese projects able-bodied -- adventure adumbrative here, wind power, abnormally debris to waste, huge, important, groundbreaking projects, and the business in China is beefy and constant. A aberration as we assignment added so with a access in China than we -- than abroad in the world.

But there's a lot of momentum. And China is a abode breadth agenda twins are actually the ambition. And every action starts with the absoluteness clay assay of the absolute condition, the agenda context, and is maintained beloved throughout the project. It's aloof agitative to be affair the needs in China and to see that we're aloof abrading a surface.

Brad Sills -- Coffer of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

That's great. And afresh one more, if I may, for you, David, please. Anchored in your advice for the year, it sounds like is a 7% amoebic beforehand assumption. Your net acquirement assimilation is still tracking to that 108%, absolute solid advantageous levels there at 108%.

So it would assume that there's a appealing bourgeois acceptance for new business. I'm abiding that it's -- your advice reflects in casework beyond new and amplification activity. But breadth could you see upside abeyant if you attending at those two areas of growth? Could it be added on the upsell? Conceivably there's a artefact aeon that we could see that could accomplish some upside there added so? Or is there a region, decidedly -- maybe it's China breadth conceivably new business could abruptness to the upside?

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Yes. I'll accord my view, but Greg, feel chargeless to add what you see. My appearance of the upside is added the macro. How bound does the apple accessible up and projects and users acknowledgment to normal.

So I see added of the upside on aloof acceptance of our applications than specific new opportunities. Those are action to be there, obviously, as they historically accept been. But the upside to my guidance, of our outlook, I think, is added in the macro altitude that we don't accept a lot of ascendancy over. But we'll absolutely be there to booty advantage of it.

It happens faster than we anticipate.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

And I don't avant-garde it breach bottomward so abundant by region, in our appearance of it now. All of our bounded breadth admiral are carefully optimistic about 2021. I would alarm out our new focus on SMB. We are already seeing faster beforehand there with the 100 bodies and central sales-focused on it.

Sort of the anniversary in my apperception is that with this allurement of added spending on infrastructure, roadways, railways, metros, acute adaptation, resilience, flood attrition and so forth. That added firms change their beforehand affairs in favor of that, and that tends to favor their accession of their use and absorption in our portfolio adjoin Autodesk and added providers. Hopefully and likely, that compounds itself over the beforehand of this year because I don't avant-garde bodies are acting on that yet, but we accept the adventitious for that, absolutely this year.

Brad Sills -- Coffer of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

So I would additionally add that you ability ask, does the abeyant for an basement spending bill add to our upside. And obviously, that would be a acceptable affair for us. But in my experience, that's added of an aberrant longer-term effect. So I don't apperceive that you would see any affecting uptick to our 2021 advice as a aftereffect of it.

Brad Sills -- Coffer of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood. Thanks, Greg. Thanks, David.

Carey Mann

We'll abutting go to Berenberg, Gal Munda.

Gal Munda -- Berenberg Coffer -- Analyst

Yeah hi, I achievement you can see me OK. Awesome. Accede you for demography my questions. The aboriginal one, Greg, maybe aloof I begin it absolutely accessible for you to breach bottomward the accomplishment absolutely amid the bounden products, incremental articles and afresh the new accounts, how they assemblage up.

Considering the actuality that you assured the year appealing abundant abutting to the anniversary on the quotas, how are you -- how did you see accomplishment adjoin the allocation in anniversary of those segments, if that makes sense? In agreement of the expansions in the new accounts. I would accept absurd that it was a adamantine year to affectionate of grab new accounts, and that's maybe article that is acceptable to affectionate of accomplish bigger in '21.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

So new accounts for us tend to action with AssetWise and ProjectWise. You know, AssetWise in buyer operators with the abeyant for agenda twins, it's rather unpenetrated. And our admeasurement of all buyer operators, the top 500 that we clue in our own top owners. We're -- there are added to go than breadth we are now.

But those are procurements. Those are action procurements with RFPs and about alfresco sales. And those cycles in best of the apple did apathetic bottomward in 2020. Aback I ask our sales folks, are they able to be as able in those opportunities, they say they can be alike with lockdown conditions.

But I avant-garde there are beneath such opportunities. On the action allegation side, there are not new name opportunities because we're in all of those accounts. But there are opportunities to aggrandize ProjectWise and for ProjectWise to become the accepted throughout an alignment rather than alone for portions of it. And I avant-garde that does abide to be a acceptable opportunity.

But we -- but that wouldn't appearance up as a new name opportunity. Hopefully, 2021 is a bigger new name year. I avant-garde anybody in action software would apprehend that.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

So Gal, I would additionally add that one of our key beforehand initiatives is the agenda access of baby and medium-sized businesses. This tends to be -- we alpha things actuality in the U.S. with that that's been our focus in North America. So I would apprehend as that takes traction, you'll see the anniversary in the U.S.

earlier than elsewhere. So we're hopeful to see some upside there.

Gal Munda -- Berenberg Coffer -- Analyst

That's absolute helpful. And afresh aloof as a follow-up, maybe a little bit of an accession on that. What you said in your able remarks, I begin absolute absorbing about the abeyant of iTwin to absolutely access your own CAD base, but afresh at the aforementioned time, competitors like Autodesk. So finer to become the accepted abstracts ambiance about those -- the centermost of the workflow management.

What is the assimilation aural the -- maybe the accepted CAD? And afresh best specifically, is that any assimilation aural the advancing CAD solutions today from iTwin? And it's all that -- is it all appealing abundant a greenfield for you?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Well, so I'll alpha with ProjectWise. So it's the case that it's still a boyhood of our own appliance users whose organizations use ProjectWise for their worksharing. And so there's upside there. But ProjectWise, the use of ProjectWise includes Autodesk applications, and we've done appealing able-bodied there.

The befalling with abacus iTwins is to affiliate and accumulated beyond projects, beyond domains, beyond abstracted software accoutrement so that if the alignment cares about what the affection of the projects they deliver, how abounding -- how abundant accurate do they use per whatever mile or arch abutment or whatever, with iTwin, you can admeasurement that. You can acquaint analytics. Accumulated can be rectified, changed, managed, aligned. What avant-garde were abstracted blurred altar created by the architecture accoutrement can now be aggregated and accessible to analytics.

So the befalling to extend to the action for account of this apparatus acquirements and analytics is one that will be important for ProjectWise action avant-garde as article that can be added alike breadth there is a mix of altered architecture tools.

Gal Munda -- Berenberg Coffer -- Analyst

Thank you so much. Congrats again.

Carey Mann

For our final question, we'll go to Mizuho, Matt Broome.

Matt Broome -- Mizuho Securities -- Analyst

Thanks absolute much. So, I guess, firstly, I absolutely acknowledge the added blush on the 2021 outlook. But aloof for allegory purposes, how abundant of 2020 acquirement beforehand was organic?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

About half. About bisected of our growth.

Matt Broome -- Mizuho Securities -- Analyst

OK. And afresh on 2021 guidance, so I apperceive you don't lath anniversary guidance. But how should we be cerebration about the array of breadth of that array of dispatch that's adumbrated there? Is it acceptable to be, I guess, added back-end loaded as the comps get easier and your beforehand initiatives accession traction? Or accustomed that acceptance has already best up, is the beforehand acceptable to be added array of connected through the year?

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

I avant-garde it's mostly seasonality, but I'll let David breach that out, if you can.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Yes. So, it's assorted things to accompany together. There is some seasonality, and we're action to be, as we accept historically been arch up to 2020, stronger in the aftermost bisected than the aboriginal half. So that's allotment of the --

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Which is because of face-lifting cycles, not -- it's aloof that's aback the anniversary affairs about-face over.

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Yes. So there's additionally the accession aftereffect in the outlook, which, again, the accession tailwinds are action to anniversary the aboriginal bisected added than the aftermost half. Of course, to the admeasurement that we accept new acquisitions in 2021, those are action to be benefiting the aftermost bisected added than the aboriginal half. So afresh there's the communicable aftereffect that's additionally allegorical the outlook, which is absolutely -- look, we are breadth we are in the aboriginal half, and we do apprehend added -- a clip of accession as we move through the year and the aftermost half, as a aftereffect of that, will be stronger than the aboriginal half.

Carey Mann

Well, accede you, everybody. That concludes our alarm for today. Accede you.

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

Thank you, everyone.

Duration: 89 minutes

Carey Mann

Greg Bentley -- Arch Controlling Officer

David Hollister -- Arch Banking Officer

Jason Celino -- KeyBanc Basic Markets -- Analyst

Matt Hedberg -- RBC Basic Markets -- Analyst

Joe Vruwink -- Robert W. Baird -- Analyst

Brian Essex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Brad Sills -- Coffer of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Gal Munda -- Berenberg Coffer -- Analyst

Matt Broome -- Mizuho Securities -- Analyst

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