LOOP.L Share News (LOOP)

(Alliance News) - LoopUp Group PLC on Tuesday said it turned to an annual loss in 2021 as customers switched to Microsoft Teams by US software firm Microsoft Corp for online meetings, but it also said it has solved this problem.

LoopUp is a London-based software provider for remote meetings. Due to the Covid pandemic, the firm posted high revenue in 2020 as more people used its services for online meetings.

"2020 was an exceptional year due to the global lockdown having a hugely positive, but relatively short-lived impact on revenues," the company said. In late 2020, many customers started transferring to Microsoft Teams.

To adapt, LoopUp launched a cloud telephony product for Microsoft Teams in the latter part of 2020. With that business, it sees growth lines. LoopUp's cloud telephony arm recorded maiden revenue of GBP740,000 in 2021.

Pretax loss amounted to GBP31.0 million in 2021 compared to a profit of GBP5.7 million in 2020. Revenue declined to GBP19.5 million from GBP50.2 million. For 2021, the firm took an exceptional impairment charge of GBP19.6 million, compared to none in 2020. Net assets decreased to GBP49.2 million from GBP65.0 million.

"While revenue spiked in the second and third quarter of 2020, a steady decline then set in as enterprises progressively moved to more holistic unified communications platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, rather than using discrete meetings products," LoopUp explained.

"Relative to that high point, 2021 revenue from LoopUp Platform Capabilities decreased by 70% to GBP13.1 million from GBP43.0 million, and revenue from third party resale services declined by 37% to GBP4.5 million from GBP7.2 million," it added.

LoopUp is confident for its medium-term outlook, citing its cloud telephony product for Microsoft Teams. The LoopUp product allows multinational companies to consolidate their global telecommunications into a single, managed cloud implementation rather than using multiple carriers.

LoopUp shares were 14% lower at 6.70 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

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