LONDON (Alliance News) - Accesso Technology Group PLC on Wednesday reported a sharp decrease in annual profit but a rise in revenue, amid a change in accounting method.
Shares in the queuing and ticketing software company were down 14% in morning trading at 735.00 pence each.
In 2018, Accesso's pretax profit decreased 28% to USD5.2 million from USD7.2 million in 2017. The company's revenue decreased 11% to USD118.7 million from USD133.4 million.
Accesso attributed the decrease in profit to an increase in non-cash charges absorbed this year in relation to acquisitions made in previous years. The company's amortisation costs increased 36% to USD11.7 million from USD8.6 million.
During the period, the company adopted a new accounting method, IFRS 15. Using this method to adjust the company's 2017 results, Accesso saw a 16% jump in revenue.
"2018 has been another year of global expansion at Accesso. Our progress continues to be driven by the variety of solutions we have to offer and our relentless focus on delivering excellent service and support," said Chief Executive Paul Noland.
On an IFRS 15 pro forma basis, the company's Ticketing & Distribution revenue increased 22% to USD78.6 million with Guest Experience revenue increasing 4.7% to USD40.2 million.
Accesso did not pay a dividend in 2018 and maintained its view that the company's cash would be "more efficiently" invested in product development and acquisitions. Accesso said it is "unlikely" to pay a dividend in the short to medium term.
Noland added: "We continue to integrate the 2017 acquisitions of TE2 and Ingresso, along with identifying and executing opportunities for integration across the group's entire portfolio of solutions. As hoped, we saw increased demand for multiple applications at individual sites and have made positive strides in that direction."
Accesso said its trading in the early part of 2019 has been in line with management expectations.
The company expects to see organic revenue growth for 2019 in line with 2018. Excluding the 2017 acquisitions of Ingresso and TE2, the company's IFRS 15 revenue increased 7.4%.
The Ticketing & Distribution business is guided for mid-teens percentage revenue growth with Guest Experiences revenue expected to be flat.
Accesso expects to accelerate its investment in development and marketing spend in 2019, with total development expenditure set to increase to be between USD36 million and USD39 million compared to the USD29.3 million spent in 2018.