LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Ten Lifestyle's shares plummeted on Wednesday after the luxury travel outfit reported larger losses as it missed revenue targets and allowed costs to spiral.
Losses before tax for the year ended 31 August swelled to £8.5m from £2.2m the prior year, as operating expenses increased by 31.1% to £41.3m and offset 13% net revenue growth to £37.4m.

The company, which floated on AIM in November last year with a mission to provide "trusted concierge services to the world's wealthy and mass affluent", said the losses reflected slower revenue growth from new and existing territories, slower roll out into new verticals and slower roll out of larger, more integrated contracts.

The year saw Ten Lifestyle launch its enhanced proprietary digital platform, which is available in nine languages and 36 currencies and became fully operational this month after an initial launch in June.

Chief executive Alex Cheatle said: "While the launch was later than planned, and has affected our revenue expectations, it is a world first in the concierge market and we believe that it creates significant competitive advantage for Ten. Although we are disappointed not to meet the net revenue expectations that we set at IPO, we are confident about our future success."

Cheatle expects the new platform to unlock extra revenue from existing contracts, though the company said in a statement that despite the conversion of one large contract into an extra-large contract, the roll out to other clients has been "slower than expected".

Cash and cash equivalents at 31 August stood at £20.7m, down from the £25m after its initial public offer fundraising.

For the coming year, Ten Lifestyle stated that earnings and revenue are expected to grow but still fall below prior expectations as investment in the platform continues.

Following the results, house broker Peel Hunt dropped its target price for the company's shares from 155p to 115p and delayed its prolonged its forecasts for the company to achieve profitability by a further year as it predicted negative EBITA of £5.1m for the ongoing year.

Ten Lifestyle's shares were down 65% to 21.5p at 0947 GMT.

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