Midas - Mail On Sunday1 May 2016 10:53
Here's 120 million reasons why tech firm's payment platform is set to take off in China
Xinhua is China’s biggest news agency, which makes it an impressive new client for a small technology company from Knutsford, Cheshire.
AIM-listed DJI Holdings has struck a deal with Xinhua to use its e-commerce platform on the Chinese company’s mobile app.
DJI’s software will provide payment facilities for users to top up mobile phones, and pay utility bills and even parking tickets.
As so often in China, the scale of the operation is stupendous: Xinhua’s app already has 120 million users and they are growing by 10 million a month.
Winner: DJI provided technology for all parts of China’s lottery
Mirabaud Securities analysts reckon that even if the app captures no more than five per cent of the relevant consumer spend next year, which will earn DJI a commission of 0.2 per cent, this would translateinto £58 million of revenue.
DJI, under chief executive Darren Mercer, has agreed a profit-sharing scheme with its Chinese partners – they will get up to 40 per cent.
The platform will operate in five provinces initially with the aim of reaching 12 by the end of 2017. DJI has inreturn committed to a £6 million investment upfront, which it has financed with a £10.5 million share placing at 60p a share.
The Xinhua deal, said Mirabaud, is ‘transformational’ for DJI, but it came out of adversity. China suspended online lottery sales last year because illegal sales far outstripped legal ones.
It is now working on developing a new lottery regulatory system and the suspension is expected to be lifted this year.
DJI provided the technology for all parts of China’s lottery, which raises funds for sports and welfare projects, in 11 provinces. This included ticket salesand back-office functions for ticket outlets, and the platform processed a billion transactions a month.
Mobile phone-based lotteries are still in operation in China, however, and DJI recently signed a deal in Shandong for its technologyto be used in the first official mobile sports lottery app.
Mirabaud said DJI’s deals will lead to earnings for 2017 of £27.8 million. Its 12-month target for the shares is 169p, up from 74½p per share on Friday and it forecasts earnings will rise from a loss of £8.9 million last year to £222.7 million profit by 2019.
Midas verdict: DJI appears to be negotiating the Chinese tech market with perseverance and skill.
Its deal with Xinhua News Agency is potentially transformational with the possibility of a very significant boost to earnings in the near future.
Buy.