Bango ends first half in 'stronger than ever' position
By Josh White
Date: Tuesday 14 Jul 2020
(Sharecast News) - Mobile payments provider Bango reported record revenue growth in its first half of more than 50% on Tuesday, to £4.8m.
The AIM-traded firm said adjusted EBITDA for the six months ended 30 June was expected to exceed the full year 2019 value of £0.45m.
Looking at its cash position, the board said the Bango platform generated cash in the first half, with the total at period end standing at £4.2m.
That, it said, accounted for NHN deal-related and associated internal costs, and the Audiens earn out payment from January, totaling about £1.8m.
End user spend grew "strongly" in the first half, to more than £740m, which continued the exponential growth trend through the company's platform, the board said.
It explained that the full benefits of the customer wins and route activations won during the first half, including SoftBank and Amazon Japan, would begin to show going forward, leading to a "strong" second half, meeting full-year forecasts.
Bango said it was continuing to invest in growing its data insights and monetisation capabilities, now offering payment audiences in seven out of the 10 largest markets, as measured by app store revenue.
More than 1,000 developers were now registered and engaged with Bango Marketplace, compared to around 200 at the end of 2019.
Two new partnerships were signed with "leading" games publishers, the board said, which had started using Bango audiences across their full range of titles.
The period also saw the completion of a joint venture with NHN of South Korea, to drive the Audiens customer data platform business forward.
Bango retained a 40% stake in Audiens, which the directors said allowed the company to benefit from the expected growth from NHN's investment of finance and technology expertise.
During the first half, Bango signed a three-year platform deal with an unnamed "leading" global telecoms provider, worth at least £1.5m, with opportunities for further revenue growth.
Bango also announced the launch of a payment option for SoftBank customers on Amazon Japan.
The firm said it now powered carrier billing for Amazon Japan across the country's three largest operators - SoftBank, NTT Docomo and KDDI - reaching more than 100 million customers.
"Bango enters the second half of 2020 in a stronger position than ever before," said chief executive officer Paul Larbey.
"The achievements in the first six months, during a period of unprecedented global uncertainty, are a testament to the strength of the Bango team and the success of Bango customers.
"The payments and resale business continues to grow rapidly, increasing profitability and cash generation, thanks to the stable operating costs of the platform."
Larbey said the opportunities were "greater than ever", having expanded beyond telco providers to retailers now joining Bango.
"Bango Marketplace offers a powerful and proven proposition with strong sales momentum.
"Bango Audiences help the world's largest games companies to acquire new paying users, which in turn generates more payment insights, and the Bango virtuous circle grows.
"With all this exciting progress, Bango is firmly on track to become the technology behind every payment choice."
Bango said it would report its interim results for the six months ended 30 June on 15 September.
At 1217 BST, shares in Bango were down 0.97% at 161.42p.
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