Financial Highlights
· Robust bookings in period and trading in line with management expectations:
o Significant increase in mix of cloud services contracts
o Order book of contracted future minimum revenues increased by 14% to over £16.6m
o Overall demand remains robust
· Annualised recurring core revenues(1) increased by 8% to £11.3m
· Recognised revenue of £8.09m (H1 FY16: £8.13m) as a result of the change in blend of business and reduction in MovieLine service
· Adjusted EBITDA(2) increased by 5% to £2.21m (H1 FY16: £2.11m)
· Profit before tax increased by 17% to £0.92m (H1 FY16: £0.78m)
· Basic earnings per share increased by 7% to 0.60p (H1 FY16: 0.56p)
· Maintained strong cash conversion with cash generated from operating activities increased by 58% to £2.47m (H1 FY16: £1.56m)
· Debt-free balance sheet with net cash funds of £14.6m (30 June 2016: £14.1m)
· Interim enhanced dividend of 1.05p.
1) annualised revenue from cloud services and support contracts as at 31 December 2016
2) profit before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation, non-recurring transaction expenses and share-based charges
Operational Highlights
· Significant growth in cloud business with 4 of the 10 largest orders received in the period for cloud-based contracts
· Won largest Liberty cloud contract to date signing a five-year agreement worth a minimum of £1.4 million
· Strong demand from the Group's installed customer base for up- and cross-sales, complemented by new customer wins in the period
· Liberty cloud platform enhanced with new functionality and closer product integration to capitalise on high-growth SaaS market opportunity
Henrik Bang, CEO of Netcall, commented:
“We continue to see robust demand for the Liberty suite with our cloud solutions in particular gaining traction which is underpinning our growing recurring revenues and future minimum contracted revenues. In line with our stated strategy, we will continue to invest in the business to take full advantage of the high growth trends in the market. This is supported by the Group's good cash generation and a strong balance sheet.
With the healthy development of the business combined with our revenue visibility, the Board believes Netcall is well positioned for the future and is confident in the Group's prospects for the year.”