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LONDON (Alliance News) - Ten Lifestyle Group PLC on Wednesday said its loss widened in its recently-ended financial year as it invested heavily in its headcount.
The stock was down 55% on Wednesday at 28.20 pence a share.
The technology company offering a self-service concierge platform floated on AIM at the end of November last year after raising GBP32.2 million in an initial public offering.
Pretax loss widened in the year to the end of August to GBP8.5 million from GBP2.2 million the year prior, despite revenue rising by 15% to GBP40.1 million from GBP34.9 million.
Revenue growth has been supported by new contract launches, Ten Lifestyle said. At the end of its financial year, the company had 24 contracts, up from 15 it had at the same date in 2017.
Ten Lifestyle highlighted that its 2018 financial year was a "period of investment", leading to growth in operating expenses to GBP41.1 million from GBP31.5 million year-on-year.
A large proportion of growth was due to increased headcount which grew to 823 by August 31. On average, the company said it had 750 employees during its financial 2018 compared to 550 employees reported in financial 2017.
The remainder of this cost reflects the running costs of the company's additional offices and additional spend on IT infrastructure to build platform resilience, Ten Lifestyle said.
"Following our IPO, we have won new contracts with some of the largest global financial institutions, expanded into new regions, and we launched our enhanced proprietary digital platform," said Chief Executive Alex Cheatle.
"Although we are disappointed not to meet the net revenue expectations that we set at IPO, we are confident about our future success," added Cheatle.