LONDON (ShareCast) - Revenue rose 6.0 per cent to 11.0m pounds in the year ended March 31st at speech recognition and associated payments solutions provider Eckoh.

In its financial results for the year, the AIM-listed company reported that its revenue rise had been partially driven by a broadening of its customer base and an expansion of its sales channel partners.

The results showed that some 88% of fiscal year 2013 revenue was of a recurring nature and gross profit was up 5.0% to £8.3m.

Adjusted operating profit was up by 18% to £1.5m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 9.0% to £2.4m. Cash generated from operating activities increased by 67% to £2.5m and the board recommended a full year dividend of 0.25p per share for the year ended March 31st.

Operational highlights included strong new customer traction over the course of the year, driven by direct and indirect sales initiatives. The group is now servicing 50 corporate clients with an uplift of 11 new clients on the previous year.

It said that Channel Partners BT, Azzurri Communications and Serco were now generating significant new business interest and it had also agreed a new three year partnership with BPM and outsourcing solutions.

The company said that demand for payment services continued to underpin customer growth, and noted three year contracts with Whitbread and CIMA among other contracts.

Acquisition of Veritape

The company also announced the acquisition of Veritape, a provider of payment card industry data security standards (PCI DSS), for an initial consideration of £6.3m.

The initial consideration comprises of £5.2m payable in cash funded by existing cash resources from the combined entity and £1.1m represented by 7.1m new Eckoh ordinary shares.

Additional deferred consideration of up to a maximum of £4.3m, payable in cash of £1.7m and new Eckoh ordinary shares of £2.6m, would be dependent on the achievement of certain profit before tax targets.

The company said that in order to earn the entire deferred consideration a profit before tax of £3.6m would have to be achieved over the 26 month period beginning July 1st .

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented today: "This is another strong set of results for the group, demonstrating our progress in both broadening our customer base and expanding our sales channel partners."

He added: "We are also delighted to announce the acquisition of Veritape, a leading provider of PCI DSS compliant payment solutions in the UK and overseas which will further strengthen our market position and accelerate growth."

Eckoh’s share price was up 4.84% to 16.25p at 12:29 on Tuesday.

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