VRE.L Share News (VRE)

(Sharecast News) - Virtual reality (VR) technology company VR Education updated the market on its first half of trading on Wednesday, reporting that it had continued to trade in line with market expectations.
The AIM-traded firm said that in the six months ended 30 June, the group had been contracted by new and existing clients for "significant" events to be held inside its proprietary software platform 'ENGAGE'.

Revenue for ENGAGE was continuing to accelerate, with unaudited first half revenue expected to be €1.25m, an increase of 84% over the prior year, while ENGAGE revenue comprised 72% of total first half revenue, up 39% year-on-year.

Its unaudited gross margin was 80% in the period, up 10 percentage points.

VR Education said ENGAGE reached the milestone of 100 commercial customers in May, with Abbott Laboratories, KPMG, MongoDB, and the US State Department among the recent additions.

It also expanded ENGAGE to the Middle East for the first time through two commercial agreements in the United Arab Emirates - one for a global event for 12 international police forces, and the other for a commercial licence with custom development work.

A major US multinational client, with a market cap of more than $100bn, signed a six-figure deal for a showcase event during the period, while the company's strategic partner HTC Corporation began selling its ENGAGE product, VIVE Sessions, in China.

That was as part of a software bundle with HTC's new headset, the VIVE Focus 3, and with new HP ProBook laptops being sold in the region.

In June, VR Education announced the planned development of a new fully-featured corporate metaverse called 'ENGAGE Oasis', with the launch expected in the first half of 2022.

The company also announced an oversubscribed placing on 18 June, raising €9m (£7.7m) before expenses at a price of 16p per share, with its net cash position standing at €9.2m as at 30 June.

"Our performance in the first half of 2021 is testament to the significant progress the group has made," said chief executive officer David Whelan.

"ENGAGE has become a leader in the world of virtual communications shown through our growing customer base of blue-chip enterprise clients."

Whelan said the recent six-figure deal with an existing US multinational client demonstrated the success of its strategy of building long-term partnerships with customers.

"We look forward to updating the market with more details on our performance, and the development of our corporate metaverse, ENGAGE Oasis, at the time of our interim results."

VR Education said it would announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 June on 14 September.

At 1343 BST, shares in VR Education Holdings were up 5.36% at 15.54p.