ClearStar swings to profit amid record revenues

(Sharecast News) - ClearStar said on Monday that it swung to a full-year profit as revenue hit a record level.In the year to 31 December 2018, revenue rose 13% to a record $20.1m, helping to drive the company to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $154,000 versus a $391,000 loss the year before.The performance was driven by the onboarding of new direct customers that were won in 2017, primarily for background screening, and the increased adoption by channel partner customers of the company's medical information services (MIS).Direct sales and MIS, in aggregate, contributed 65% of total revenue in 2018 compared with 58% in 2017. This increase in revenue enabled the group to generate positive EBITDA for the year.MIS revenue grew 25% during the year to $8.3m, while revenues from the group's other services - which primarily comprise background screening as well as the wholesale provision of data and global services - increased to $11.9m from $11.2m.Chief executive officer Robert Vale said: "This was a great year for ClearStar as we generated our highest ever annual revenue and positive EBITDA while continuing to strengthen our business. In particular, we achieved excellent traction in our key growth markets of Medical Information Services and direct sales, where we continued to move up-channel as well as enter new segments."The revenue momentum of 2018 has been sustained into 2019, resulting in a strong first quarter performance. We are benefiting from the investments made last year as the technology improvements, integrations and enhanced sales & marketing are raising our brand awareness and enabling the successful targeting of larger, higher-volume customers. As a result, we continue to expect to achieve strong growth for full year 2019, in line with market expectations."At 1510 BST, the shares were up 3.5% at 60p.