Eckoh

Press: Eckoh rose after announcing that it had won a three year contract with Whitbread?s Premier Inn hotels business. Under the three-year... read more

Press: Eckoh rose after announcing that it had won a three year contract with Whitbread?s Premier Inn hotels business. Under the three-year deal, customers will be able to book and cancel rooms at any Premier Inn hotel in the UK. Source - Express

15.11.10 :-0.25, (7.13) Eckoh PLC posted a heavier first-half pretax loss on higher finance charges, but said profit will rise for the... read more

15.11.10 :-0.25, (7.13) Eckoh PLC posted a heavier first-half pretax loss on higher finance charges, but said profit will rise for the full year, when it expects to pay a first-time dividend. The firm, which sells automated phone services, said its high rate of recurring contracts and an "extremely strong" pipeline of further business gives it confidence that profit and dividends will grow for the foreseeable future. Since the end of the period Eckoh has won a major contract with Renault S.A.?s (RNO.FR) U.K. vehicle financing arm, and Monday announced a further three-year deal to provide speech recognition solutions and call centre services to plants and garden equipment retailer Lead the Good Life, a division of Ideal Shopping Direct PLC (IDS.LN). Finance Director Adam Moloney told Dow Jones Newswires that these and other new contracts, coupled with Eckoh?s high renewal rate, will provide "a fairly substantial rise in revenue for the second half." The firm said 90% of its revenues are of a recurring nature from long-term contracts. "When we look back at how many customers we?ve lost, you can count them on the fingers of one hand," Moloney said. Eckoh posted a GBP1.1 million pretax loss in the six months to Sept. 30 from a GBP8,000 loss in the same period a year earlier. It follows the payment of GBP1.2 million of impairment charges, relating to a loan owed to it by Redstone PLC (RED.LN). Stripping this out, Eckoh swung to a first-half profit from operating activities of GBP121,000, compared with a GBP278,000 pretax loss a year earlier. The company?s revenue climbed to GBP4.2 million from GBP3.8 million.

Eckoh PLC said it expects to return to profit in the first half of fiscal 2011 after posting a narrowed pretax loss for the full year... read more

Eckoh PLC said it expects to return to profit in the first half of fiscal 2011 after posting a narrowed pretax loss for the full year ended March 31. The company reported a fiscal 2010 pretax loss of GBP197,000, compared with a loss of GBP1.37 million a year earlier. Stripping out non-recurring administrative expenses the company swung to pretax profit of GBP657,000, from a loss of GBP387,000 in 2009. The company is now trading profitably and expects to report a pretax profit for the current fiscal half-year, Finance Director Adam Moloney told Dow Jones Newswires. The company recently disposed of its interactive voice recognition unit, merging it with rival Telecom Express Ltd., and is now focused on more complex voice recognition services, known as speech solutions, where it expects strong revenue growth to continue, Moloney added. Revenue for the year from continuing operations rose 19% to GBP7.92 million from GBP6.67 million. The company said it doesn?t expect to suffer from cost cutting, particularly in the public sector, as its services can save its clients money by increasing the efficiency of call centers. "We don?t expect to be a victim [of cost cutting]," Chief Executive Nik Philpot told Dow Jones Newswires, adding that public sector cuts may drive demand in some cases. Many local councils don?t provide 24-hour information phone lines, Philpot said, adding Eckoh can provide these, along with services such as telephone payment for parking fines. "This is a place for them to look to save money," he said.

Eckoh PLC said it will focus on growing its speech solutions division after merging its client IVR unit with rival Telecom Express Ltd.... read more

Eckoh PLC said it will focus on growing its speech solutions division after merging its client IVR unit with rival Telecom Express Ltd. to form a new company. Eckoh has disposed of its IVR business following a long-term decline in revenue and margins, it said, although it will maintain a 27.5% stake in the merged company and Chief Executive Officer Nik Philpot will sit on the board. The deal is expected to complete by mid-June. Interactive voice response, or IVR, services are simple applications of telephone voice recognition technology, such as premium rate phone-in competitions. These services have been hit by declining print media circulation and have much lower margins than Eckoh?s remaining speech business, which is focused on more complex services such as automated cinema booking. "It became increasingly difficult to make a significant margin in [the IVR] business," Chief Financial Officer Adam Moloney told Dow Jones Newswires. "It was only on price that we could compete," he added. IVR services contributed just GBP75,000 profit from GBP4.8 million revenue--down 28%--in the six months to Sept. 30 2009, Moloney said. Speech solutions revenue grew 15% to GBP3.8 million in the same period, and has continued to grow at "significant" levels in the second half of fiscal 2010, he added. The company will now focus on growing its remaining business, he said, adding that organic growth rather than acquisitions will be the main driver of growth. Eckoh decided to merge its IVR company rather than selling it, as it would have struggled to find a buyer at an attractive price, he said. However, Moloney also said that the merged company should be able to take advantage of economies of scale to increase margins and grow profits.