Monitise shares up over five per cent after cutting annual losses and generating positive earnings in the second half of the year
Shares in financial services technology firm Monitise rose sharply despite posting another year of loss-making operations.
Revenue fell from £89.7m to £67.6m but this translated into an Ebitda loss of £19.6m – half of the £41.8m of losses generated in 2015. Critically, the company generated a positive Ebitda of £0.6m in the second six months of the year to June 2016.
Shares rose to 2.74p per share in trading during the day – an increase of over 8.5 per cent – before ending the day up over five per cent.
"We have made substantial progress in making Monitise a more stable and simpler business which is well positioned to achieve profitability. At the Ebitda level we recorded a small profit in the second half of the year," said chief executive Lee Cameron who is in his first year in charge of the company.
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Exceptional costs, which included £6.9m of onerous contracts, dragged down total cash outflow to £48.4m, compared to £58.3m in the previous year. However, free cash outflow was a third of 2015 levels, at £31.1m compared to £96.4m.
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Cameron said that the company was well on track to manage its cost base after reducing employee numbers from 850 to 500 over the last 12 months. "Our restructuring has halved operating costs in the second half of the year and reduced headcount," he said.
Meanwhile chairman Peter Ayliffe was positive about the changes made and future prospects for the company.
"The past year has seen an unprecedented amount of change throughout both the business and the board. However, I am pleased to report that the outcome is a business which is much better managed, and much more appropriately structured," he said.