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LoopUp Group claims strong trading for 2017
Remote meetings company LoopUp Group issued a trading update on Tuesday for its financial year ended 31 December.
The AIM-traded firm said it traded "strongly", with revenue growing 36% to £17.5m, ahead of market expectations in spite of the currency headwind in the second half which saw the sterling-dollar rate rise to $1.32, compared to $1.23 at the start of the year.
Its board said 51% of LoopUp revenue was dollar-denominated in the 2017 financial year.
Constant currency revenue growth was 33.5%, ahead of the 31% recorded in both 2016 and 2015.
That was made up by 37% year-on-year constant currency growth in the first half and 30% in the second half.
Gross margins rose to 76.7% - a 220 basis point improvement on a like-for-like basis over 2016, leading to 40% growth in LoopUp gross profit.
LoopUp EBITDA grew to £3.5m, up 161% on £1.3m in 2016.
The group said it continued to see strong demand for its product from mid-to-large enterprises and professional services firms.
Landmark accounts won in the second half of the year included a major newspapers and media group, a leading international financial advisory and asset management firm and a global human rights NGO, the board said.
The group ended the year with net cash of £2.9m.
"We're very pleased to report continued strong business performance ahead of market expectations," said co-CEOs Steve Flavell and Michael Hughes in a joint statement.
"Our track record of consistent revenue growth has been maintained, and has in fact accelerated on a constant currency basis.
"Gross margins have also improved and EBITDA growth is up over 160%."
Flavell and Hughes said the firm's strategy of focusing on the needs and challenges of discerning mainstream business conference callers, who were seeking a high quality, non-intimidating experience on every call, was continuing to resonate and return strong, consistent and efficient business growth.
"This is a contrarian and highly differentiated strategy vis-à-vis other software players in the space who tend to focus on early adopters and more specialist tech-savvy users.
"Looking ahead into 2018, we continue to see strong demand for the LoopUp product and we remain confident in our ability to deliver future growth."
The group was scheduled announce its full preliminary 2017 results in March.