Last checked at 8 May 2017 07:00
8 May 2017
Eckoh plc
("Eckoh", the "Group" or the "Company")
Trading Update for the year ended 31 March 2017
Directorate Change
Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, today issues a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2017.
The Board of the Company confirms that trading for the year ended 31 March 2017 was comfortably in line with market expectations, with revenue and margin growing by over 20% for the fourth year in succession. The Company continues to make good progress in the UK, and the Group's operations in the United States have produced a record year in terms of revenues and order book; as a consequence US-derived revenues will again represent a growing proportion of total Group revenues.
The Group continues to benefit from increasing revenue and earnings visibility driven by the increasing proportion of US sales attributable to longer term, Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") style commercial relationships with customers. As announced on the 22 March 2017, the Company has secured its largest ever payment contract worth $3.7m, and during the year US payment contracts valued at $8.3m were won (2016: $1.5m), with over 90% of this contract value derived from agreements using the preferred SaaS-style pricing model.
Eckoh's balance sheet remains robust with net cash ahead of market expectations at the period end. The Group has a strong pipeline and is responding to an increasing number of tenders.
The Group will report its results for the year ended 31 March 2017 on Monday 12 June 2017.
In line with corporate governance best practice, Eckoh also announces that Chris Batterham, who has served as non-executive chairman since July 2009, will be stepping down from his position and leaving the board at the forthcoming AGM, by which time the Group expects to have Chris's successor in place. The search for his replacement is already well advanced.
For further information please contact:
Eckoh plc | |
Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer | Tel: 01442 458 300 |
Chrissie Herbert, Chief Financial Officer | |
www.eckoh.com | |
| |
FTI Consulting LLP | Tel: 020 3727 1000 |
Ed Bridges / Chris Lane / Emma Appleton / Darius Alexander | |
eckoh@fticonsulting.com | |
N+1 Singer (Nomad & Joint Broker) | |
Shaun Dobson, Lauren Kettle | Tel: 020 7496 3000 |
www.n1singer.com | |
| |
Berenberg (Joint Broker) | |
Ben Wright, Chris Bowman, Amritha Murali | Tel: 020 3207 7800 |
www.berenberg.de/en |
About Eckoh plc
Eckoh is a global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, supporting an international client base from its offices in the UK and US.
Our secure payments products, which include the patented CallGuard, can be hosted in the Cloud or deployed on the client's site and remove sensitive personal and payment data from contact centres and IT environments. The products offer merchants a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of fraud, secure sensitive data and become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") and wider data security regulations. Eckoh has been a PCI DSS Level One accredited Service Provider since 2010, processing over $1bn in card payments annually.
Eckoh's customer contact solutions enable enquiries and transactions to be performed on whatever device the customer chooses, allowing organisations to increase efficiency, lower operational costs and provide a true Omni-channel experience. We also assist organisations in transforming the way that they engage with their customers by providing support and transition services as they implement our innovative customer contact solutions.
Our large portfolio of clients come from a broad range of vertical markets and includes government departments, telecoms providers, retailers, utility providers and financial services organisations. More information at www.eckoh.com.