Shares in Monitise (MONI) tumbled a quarter after the mobile-payments specialist revealed weak first-half figures and launched a strategic review that could lead to a sale of the company. The decision reflects an 80 per cent decline in Monitise's shares over the past year, and management's view that a deep-pocketed owner could accelerate the group's growth.
First-half sales slid 9 per cent as Monitise continued its transformational shift from licensing sales to subscriptions. It expects sales to be flat this year - a sharp contrast to previously targeted growth of 25 per cent - and to post a cash loss of £40m-£50m. Nonetheless, greater efficiency and lower costs mean it expects to turn a cash profit in 2016. Furthermore, Monitise continues to target £500m in annual sales and a cash-profit margin of over 30 per cent by end-June 2018.
Broker UBS forecasts a full-year loss per share of 3.66p.
