Last checked at 1 Jul 2019 07:00
Strictly embargoed until: 07.00, 1 July 2019
Toople PLC
("Toople" or the "Company")
Trading Update
New contracts signed with revenue in excess of £500,000
Strong year on year growth in new orders
Toople Plc (LSE: TOOP), a provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs, is pleased to provide the following update on trading. Since the Company settled its outstanding debt after its recent private placing, it has seen material growth across all operational metrics
Growth in customer acquisition has continued to accelerate rapidly since the half year end and the Board is pleased to announce that Toople received over 900 new orders in April 2019 and over 1,000 orders in May. Order numbers in May 2019 were 3.5 times those achieved in May 2018, representing 250% growth year on year. This growth trajectory continued into June with over 1,100 orders from over 800 new customers received. Toople is now seeing over 800 new customers placing orders every month.
The contract value of new customers signed in May 2019 amounts to revenue in excess of £500,000 for Toople over a 24 month period. The Board also expects to see continued growth in total contract value for June driven by order volume growth as well as material growth in superfast fibre orders which deliver higher revenue and gross profit.
As previously announced the Company has invested in creating an in-house sales and marketing channel and this, coupled with its digital marketing strategy, is driving the large number of new customer enquiries, many of which are received after 8 p.m. on weekdays and over weekends.
To help maximise these new customer enquiries, Toople has recently established a sales centre in Durban, South Africa. SME business owners typically respond best to the Company's digital marketing activities when they have finished work for the day and they are able to communicate with live sales agents on their desktops, mobiles or tablets. The Durban operation will significantly extend operating hours so that Toople can communicate as soon as enquiries are received. The Board believes the investment in a second sales centre will drive further lead conversion, which will result in a lower overall cost per customer.
Commenting, Andy Hollingworth, CEO at Toople said:
"We are delighted to report that our sector of the UK SME telecom services market continues to grow rapidly. Our continued success has resulted in us becoming a major disruptor and provides further proof of our sales strategy. We continue to generate more leads than ever before and with the establishment of a presence in Durban, extending our sales hours into the evenings and weekends, we are now able to convert more of those leads and at a faster rate. These initiatives will deliver a lower overall cost per customer acquisition as a result of the maturing focus of our own digital marketing campaigns without any increase in our marketing capex.
"When you combine this operational success with the recent repayment of our debt, and consider the recent M&A activity at attractive valuations in our sector, we believe that the business is currently in a very good place."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse.
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For further information please visit www.toople.com or contact:
Toople PLC Andy Hollingworth, Chief Executive Officer / Kevin Lawrence, Chief Financial Officer
| Tel: 0800 0499 499 |
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP David Coffman / Richard Nash
| Tel: 020 7213 0880 |
Novum Securities Limited Colin Rowbury
| Tel: 020 7399 9400 |
Turner Pope Investments Limited Andy Thacker
| Tel: 020 3621 4120 |
Belvedere Communications John West / Llew Angus
| Tel: 020 3687 2754 |
About Toople PLC
Toople Plc, a company incorporated in the UK provides a range of telecoms services primarily targeted at the UK SME market. Services offered by the Group include business broadband, fibre, EFM and Ethernet data services, business mobile phones, cloud PBX and SIP Trunking and Traditional Services (calls and lines) all of which are delivered and managed through Merlin, the Group's proprietary software platform.
The Group is differentiated by its focus on creating small business connectivity solutions, with robust and reliable packages that will enhance our customer's companies. In addition, our vision is based on trust and transparency, with no hidden fees within our pricing policy providing customers with a clear understanding of cost.
Toople Plc has a strong and highly experienced Board and management team who are focused on growing the business both organically and by identifying earnings enhancing strategic acquisition opportunities.