Mobile billing processor Bango (BGO) saw turnover slide and its operating loss soar to £2.6m in the nine months to end-December - after a 42 per cent pro forma reduction in end-user activity. But don't panic - that reflects a managed shift in the type of end-user services offered, towards the high growth areas of smartphone and app store-based direct operator billing.
Indeed, Bango has established itself as the operator billing platform of choice after signing up such global players as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, MasterCard and Blackberry. In fact, the group's relationship with BlackBerry has expanded to cover more than 90 mobile operators in 45 countries - in preparation for the launch of the BlackBerry 10. Bango has also continued to drive the shift away from its legacy feature phone business and revenue from Bango's new smartphone app store partners had grown to generate 77 per cent of end-user spend by December - that growth has continued since the year-end..
While there was additional investment of £0.8m, as well as extra costs in preparation for its recently signed new customers, total costs - at around £4m - aren't likely to rise substantially further. That suggests profitability is within Bango's reach as growth continues.
BANGO (BGO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 252p | MARKET VALUE: | £115m | |
| TOUCH: | 248-255p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 289p | LOW: 135p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 14p* | NET CASH: | £2.3m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 17.6 | -0.65 | -1.72 | nil |
| 2010 | 26.1 | -0.25 | 0.03 | nil |
| 2011 | 19.3 | -0.84 | -1.90 | nil |
| 2012 | 15.6 | -1.11 | -2.43 | nil |
| to 31 Dec | (£m) | (£m) | (p) | (p) |
| 2012 | 7.35 | -2.57 | -5.91 | nil |
| %change** | -37 | - | - | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- *Includes intangible assets of £3.3m, or 7p a share **Annualised | ||||
