08:00 Tue 17 Sep 2019
Bango PLC - Interim Results
("Bango")
Interim Results
Bango (AIM: BGO), the mobile commerce company, today announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended
1H2019 Financial highlights
End User Spend (EUS) for 1H2019 exceeded
· Revenues increased 64% to
· Group Adjusted EBITDA*
· Adjusted Operating Expenditure**
including increased product development and investment in data business
· Cash
Sufficient to fund the Group to cash generation, and support planned investment to grow sales and develop new products
* Adjusted EBITDA is Operating profit before depreciation, amortization, share based payments and exceptional items.
** Operating expenditure before depreciation, amortization, share based payments and exceptional items.
1H2019 Operational highlights
· Demand for
· New payment and resale routes launched in
· New Bango resale technology opens-up the 3Bn+ pre-paid mobile market to OTT media companies
· Expansion of Amazon relationship to new markets and additional services, including Prime Now and Twitch Prime
Post-period
· Partnership with Spotify announced
· New major merchant signed, expected to launch during second half of current financial year
· Google Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) for first time in
· Internet of Things (IoT) project for vehicles paying highway tolls in USA
Delivering the Bango Platform strategy
· Reliable and efficient processing of payments on a technologically advanced, fixed-cost platform
· Analysis and segmentation of payment data using advanced, privacy-enhancing techniques to generate high value marketing audiences
· Virtuous circle for Bango customers driving transaction growth through more effective marketing using Bango audiences
"The Bango strategy continues to deliver success for our customers and this is being demonstrated by the continued, rapid growth in the Bango business. 2019 has seen strong performance across the business, with payment and resale growing in multiple markets, and
Contact Details:
|
FTI Consulting |
finnCap l |
Tel. +44 333 077 0247
|
Tel. +44 203 727 1000 |
Tel. +44 207 200 0500
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Bango
Cross the threshold into the thriving Bango ecosystem where merchants and payment providers converge, grow and thrive.
Being inside the Bango circle means global merchants including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are able to work together with payment partners from
Bango. Think inside the circle. For more information, visit www.bango.com.
CEO's statement
Payments business and EUS growth
The first half of 2019 has seen Bango deliver more merchants, more payment routes activated, more service offerings from existing customers and more efficient use of data to drive up transaction volumes, ultimately acquiring more users for Bango customers. End User Spend (EUS) in 1H2019 grew to
The fast growth of business from the increasing range of services launched, and established merchants and countries, supports Bango confidence that continued annual doubling of EUS is expected, driving more valuable data into the Bango Platform and more sales revenue for Bango and its partners.
Specific examples during 1H2019 include:
· New routes activated in
· New partners include cable and fixed line providers, in addition to Mobile Network Operators
· Expansion of Amazon relationship to new countries
· More independent merchants on the Bango Platform including Spotify and AE Tolls
New and innovative Bango Resale technology released to our partners in 1H2019 opened-up 3Bn+ mobile pre-paid users to Over-The-Top (OTT) media companies that offer subscriptions for music, movies and other content and services. These pre-paid users are concentrated in markets where our partners are focusing their customer acquisition investments, making Bango technology highly significant to drive new revenue streams for Bango customers.
Bango's agreement with AE Tolls is enabling the use of the Bango Platform to collect automotive tolls on freeways using Direct Carrier Billing, opening up new opportunities for growth in the
These examples of market-leading innovation underscore the importance of the continuing investment in R&D made by Bango management.
By ensuring there are no significant incremental costs for processing payment transactions, payment processing margins continue to be close to 100%. To stay ahead of this rapid growth in the business, Bango Platform capacity has again been increased, within current stable operating costs, by applying new techniques and increasing use of cloud-based, on-demand capacity to comfortably handle the short term peaks and surges in transaction volumes associated with merchant campaigns and user behavior.
Data monetization
Bango intelligently analyzes the large volumes of data it processes for payment providers to generate valuable audiences of users based on their payment behavior. For developers, acquiring customers that are known to actually pay in-app is hugely valuable.
With customer consent verified by payment partners, Bango offers these audiences to app developers though the
Audiences are used in Facebook and other marketing tools, with a focus on app developers, who may spend as much as half of their revenues on marketing to generate new paying users.
Following its launch in early 2019,
While
Payment providers earn a share of revenue generated from audience sales when they provide data to Bango as part of payment processing, or by other means.
Bango has been approached by providers of payment data beyond its powerful DCB partners and is currently investigating processing these new data sources to provide audiences that have a greater reach than carrier billing alone.
Audiens Customer Data Platform (CDP)
Audiens CDP makes it simple to collect, organize, activate and analyze customer data with no programming skills. With the knowhow and technology expertise that the Audiens acquisition brought to Bango now fully integrated with the Bango Platform, the Audiens business is focussed on its core CDP opportunity.
The Audiens Customer Data Platform (CDP) is performing very well. New customers won in 1H2019 include Experian (global data company), Iper (hypermarkets), Tamoco (location data), and Nextplora (insight management).
Strengthened team
The senior management team was strengthened with the appointment of
Bango also established a regional hub in
Outlook
Continuing, strong EUS growth
Delivery of services via apps to billions of users worldwide is a fast growth opportunity. Amazon, Microsoft, Pandora, Google Play app developers and others, will drive continued EUS growth through the Bango Platform.
New payment routes into additional countries, and with additional payment partners and wallet providers, will add EUS growth for all merchants globally.
New opportunities that will add additional EUS in the short term and drive substantial growth in the coming years include: content types such as AR/VR; faster 5G networks enabling streaming games services; app developers such as Spotify; IoT.
Data monetization powers growth
The average marketing cost to get a user to install an app is
Data gathered by Bango across hundreds of millions of users spending over
Bango payment data is an innovation in developer marketing. With consumer spending expected to be
Synergy between payment and data activity
By monetizing payment data through
Increased marketing efficiency, higher EUS and more happy customers all drive the success of Bango virtuous circle strategy, making Bango the place where people and businesses converge, grow and thrive.
Capacity for Innovation: Data processing AI / Machine learning / hyper-scale
With volumes of data across hundreds of millions of purchasing transactions feeding into Bango, the opportunities to increase the use of machine learning and AI to extract more value from the data are increasing. Alongside internal Bango deep data projects to generate more value, Bango is in early stage discussions with several global leaders in data monetization to explore how to capture this value in a safe, secure and scalable way, outside the Bango primary market of app developers.
Summary
It has been a strong period for the Group and the Board is pleased with the continued growth in the Bango Platform and the encouraging engagement with customers for
Chief Executive Officer
CFO's statement
I am delighted with the financial performance of the Bango business in the first half of 2019.
Bango business model
Bango reports on two synergistic lines of business. EUS activity relates directly to payment transactions through the Bango Platform for the world's leading merchants for both physical and digital goods. Data activity business is from the monetization of valuable data from mobile operators and other payment providers, and includes business generated by the Audiens CDP which serves marketeers and advertisers monetizing data.
End User Spend
EUS is total sales value processed through the Bango Platform excluding taxes. EUS shows the growth of commerce through the Bango Platform. It is the most significant Key Performance Indicator that management uses to measure the growth of the business and the continued success of Bango customers and partners.
EUS for 1H2019 was up 112% to
Revenue
Total revenues increased 64% YoY to
Data monetization revenue increased to
From the cost of sales of
Operating expenditure
The group adjusted operating costs (operating expenditure adjusted for depreciation, amortization, foreign exchange, stock option expense, exceptional items) of
The EUS business was EBITDA positive for 1H2019. The Bango Platform can process EUS at many times current levels with no additional operational cost. The capacity of the platform is regularly tested to rates in excess of
Costs related to Bango data business include the costs for operating the Audiens subsidiary and central costs necessary to support the business unit including accounting, IT and legal fees. Bango expects the costs for 2H2019 to be in line with 1H2019.
Key Audiens technology was replicated into the Bango Platform to support the launch of
Bango has invested in more legal and security reviews to support the growth of Audiens as it benefits from regulatory clarity through the introduction of GDPR and improved consumer transparency offered by Facebook, Google and others.
The share-based payment charge for 1H2019 was
Amortization of intangible assets in 1H2019 was
Depreciation was
Loss and loss per share
The loss after tax was
Loss per share was (1.82p) (1H2018: 2.78p).
Cash
Cash balances at
Based on the growth of the business, cash generation from EUS activity and effective cash management, the cash burn in Bango in 1H2019 has significantly decreased. With further growth in revenue expected in 2H2019 and beyond, on a stable cost base, Bango will have sufficient cash resources to support both planned investments to grow sales and develop new products to ensure Bango has a strong slid pipeline of upgrades and benefits from the additional billions of dollars of EUS through the Bango Platform that the Board expects over the coming years.
Chief Financial Officer
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the six months ended
|
Six months ended Unaudited |
Six months ended Unaudited |
Year ended Audited |
|
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
Alternative performance measure (Non-IFRS) |
|
|
|
|
End User Spend |
467,235,662 |
219,956,688 |
558,172,507 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue |
4,320,099 |
2,634,411 |
6,619,728 |
|
Cost of sales |
(721,877) |
(252,018) |
(796,180) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit |
3,598,222 |
2,382,393 |
5,825,548 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating expenditure |
(5,280,074) |
(4,586,000) |
(9,340,563) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating profit/(loss) before depreciation, amortization, share based payments and exceptional items* |
10,961 |
(915,555) |
(864,934) |
|
Share based payments |
(435,213) |
(448,439) |
(1,034,824) |
|
Depreciation |
(238,423) |
(128,209) |
(270,070) |
|
Amortization |
(854,607) |
(711,404) |
(1,345,187) |
|
Exceptional items* |
(164,570) |
- |
- |
|
Operating loss |
(1,681,852) |
(2,203,607) |
(3,517,015) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest payable |
(20,137) |
(38,478) |
(67,696) |
|
Investment income |
11,744 |
5,781 |
14,805 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss before taxation |
(1,690,245) |
(2,236,304) |
(3,569,906) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax |
406,308 |
313,097 |
706,367 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss for the financial year |
(1,283,937) |
(1,923,207) |
(2,863,539) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other comprehensive income Foreign exchange on consolidation |
89,954 |
58,511 |
|
|
Loss and total comprehensive loss for the |
|
|
|
|
period |
(1,193,983) |
(1,864,696) |
(2,780,200) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss per share attributable to the equity holders of |
|
|
|
|
Basic loss per share |
(1.82)p |
(2.78)p |
(4.11)p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted loss per share |
(1.82)p |
(2.78)p |
(4.11)p |
All of the activities of the group are classified as continuing.
*Exceptional items relate to the one off costs of the business rebranding
Notes 1 to 7 are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
Consolidated statement of financial position
as at
|
Unaudited |
Audited |
|
|
£ |
£ |
|
ASSETS |
|
|
|
Non-current assets |
|
|
|
Property, plant and equipment |
491,831 |
567,620 |
|
Right of use assets |
897,195 |
- |
|
Intangible assets |
12,162,239 |
11,927,893 |
|
|
13,551,265 |
12,495,513 |
|
Current assets |
|
|
|
Trade and other receivables |
2,728,099 |
2,815,533 |
|
Research and development tax credits |
1,026,786 |
634,889 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
2,253,681 |
3,814,927 |
|
|
6,008,566 |
7,265,349 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total assets |
19,559,831 |
19,760,862 |
|
|
|
|
|
EQUITY |
|
|
|
Capital and reserves attributable to equity holders of |
|
|
|
Share capital |
14,090,868 |
14,053,582 |
|
Share premium account |
35,895,354 |
35,796,976 |
|
Merger reserve |
2,175,470 |
2,175,470 |
|
Other reserve |
4,315,893 |
3,880,680 |
|
Foreign exchange revaluation reserve |
251,611 |
161,657 |
|
Accumulated losses |
(41,383,802) |
(40,099,865) |
|
Total equity |
15,345,394 |
15,968,500 |
LIABILITIES |
|
|
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
Trade and other payables |
2,925,959 |
3,408,919 |
|
Finance lease liability for right to use assets |
155,111 |
- |
|
Finance lease liabilities |
125,199 |
121,968 |
|
|
3,206,269 |
3,530,827 |
|
Non-current liabilities |
|
|
|
Finance lease liabilities |
88,674 |
152,081 |
|
Finance lease liability for right to use assets |
790,989 |
- |
|
Deferred tax liability |
128,505 |
109,394 |
|
|
1,008,168 |
261,475 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities |
4,214,437 |
3,792,362 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total equity and liabilities |
19,559,831 |
19,760,862 |
Notes 1 to 7 are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
Consolidated cash flow statement
for the six months ended
|
Six months ended Unaudited |
Six months ended Unaudited |
|
£ |
£ |
|
|
|
Net cash used by operating activities |
(485,414) |
(1,118,489) |
|
|
|
Cash flows used by investing activities |
|
|
Purchases of property, plant and equipment |
(76,923) |
(86,605) |
Addition to intangible fixed assets |
(1,046,371) |
(1,205,627) |
Purchase of subsidiary |
- |
(1,464,280) |
Interest received |
11,744 |
5,781 |
Net cash used by investing activities |
(1,111,550) |
(2,750,731) |
|
|
|
Cash flows generated from financing activities |
|
|
Proceeds from issuance of ordinary shares |
135,664 |
5,345,840 |
Costs associated with issuance of ordinary shares |
- |
(332,793) |
Interest payable |
(20,698) |
(38,478) |
Capital repayment of finance lease obligations |
(60,176) |
(56,087) |
Net cash (used)/generated from financing activities |
54,790 |
4,918,480 |
|
|
|
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents |
(1,542,174) |
999,260 |
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period |
3,814,927 |
4,847,203 |
Exchange differences on cash and cash equivalents |
(19,072) |
47,750 |
|
3,795,855 |
4,894,953 |
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period |
2,253,681 |
5,881,213 |
|
|
|
Notes 1 to 7 are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
|
Share capital |
Share premium account |
Merger reserve |
Other reserve |
Foreign exchange reserve |
Retained earnings |
Total |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
Balance at |
13,284,561 |
31,248,453 |
1,236,225 |
2,350,701 |
78,318 |
(37,474,820) |
10,723,438 |
Share based payments |
- |
- |
- |
448,439 |
- |
- |
448,439 |
Issue of warrants |
- |
- |
- |
733,649 |
- |
- |
733,649 |
Exercise of share options |
63,336 |
262,502 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
325,838 |
Issue of new shares |
662,139 |
4,462,224 |
939,245 |
- |
- |
- |
6,063,608 |
Expense of share issue |
- |
(332,793) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(332,793) |
Transactions with owners |
725,475 |
4,391,933 |
939,245 |
1,182,088 |
- |
- |
7,238,741 |
Loss for the period |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(1,923,207) |
(1,923,207) |
Foreign exchange of consolidation |
- |
- |
- |
- |
58,511 |
- |
58,511 |
Total comprehensive income for the period |
- |
- |
- |
- |
58,511 |
(1,923,207) |
(1,864,696) |
Balance at |
14,010,036 |
35,640,386 |
2,175,470 |
3,532,789 |
136,829 |
(39,398,027) |
16,097,483 |
Balance at |
14,053,582 |
35,796,976 |
2,175,470 |
3,880,680 |
161,657 |
(40,099,865) |
15,968,500 |
Share based payments |
- |
- |
- |
435,213 |
- |
- |
435,213 |
Exercise of share options |
37,286 |
98,378 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
135,664 |
Transactions with owners |
37,286 |
98,378 |
- |
435,213 |
- |
- |
570,877 |
Loss for the period |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
(1,283,937) |
(1,283,937) |
Foreign exchange of consolidation |
- |
- |
- |
- |
89,954 |
- |
89,954 |
Total comprehensive income for the period |
- |
- |
- |
- |
89,954 |
(1,283,937) |
(1,193,983) |
Balance at |
14,090,868 |
35,895,354 |
2,175,470 |
4,315,893 |
251,611 |
(41,383,802) |
15,345,394 |
Notes 1 to 7 are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
1. |
General information |
2. |
Basis of preparation |
The condensed interim financial information for the half year ended
The consolidated interim financial information has been prepared under the historical cost convention.
The cash flow forecasts of Bango anticipate increased cash generation from trading operations, therefore the Directors have a reasonable expectation that there are adequate resources to continue its operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
3. |
Principal accounting policies |
The principal accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the annual financial statements for the year ended
· IFRS 16 Leases
IFRS 16 brings all operating leases onto the statement of financial position. The leases effected are Bango's head office in Cambridge and the Audiens office in Milan.
The Group has used the modified retrospective transition approach on adoption of IFRS 16 Leases, where the initial right of use asset values recognized on property leases are equal to the present value of the future lease payments as at the date of transition (
4. |
Segment reporting |
(a) End User Spend
Bango has identified End User Spend a non IFRS alternative performance measure as its Key Performance Indicator on which management decisions surrounding investment in the platform and development of intangible assets are based. End User Spend is the total value in a specific time period of all sales processed using the Bango Platform excluding VAT and other sales taxes and converted using the exchange rate at the point of the sale.
|
Six months ended Unaudited |
Six months ended Unaudited |
Year ended Audited |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
|
|
End User Spend |
467,235,662 |
219,956,688 |
558,172,507 |
(b) Revenue and gross profit
Bango, based on the information reviewed by the chief operating decision maker, identifies two operating segments. There are two separable revenue streams in Bango. End user activity and Data activity.
Management reporting is based principally on the type of customer and strategic decisions are made on the basis of the gross profit generated from each segment. The segments are not separately managed and therefore Bango's operations and its research and development activity are considered group operations and are not allocated to any operating segment. Segment information can be analyzed as follows for the reporting periods under review.
Six months ended |
|
|
|
|
|
End user |
Data activity |
Group |
Total |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
|
|
|
Segment revenue |
3,178,496 |
1,141,603 |
- |
4,320,099 |
Cost of sales |
(52,851) |
(669,026) |
- |
(721,877) |
Segment gross profit |
3,125,645 |
472,577 |
- |
3,598,222 |
|
|
|
|
|
Administrative expenses |
- |
- |
(3,587,261) |
(3,587,261) |
Share based payments charge |
- |
- |
(435,213) |
(435,213) |
Depreciation |
- |
- |
(238,423) |
(238,423) |
Amortization |
- |
- |
(854,607) |
(854,607) |
Exceptional items |
- |
- |
(164,570) |
(164,570) |
Interest payable |
- |
- |
(20,137) |
(20,137) |
Interest income |
- |
- |
11,744 |
11,744 |
Segment net profit / (loss) |
3,125,645 |
472,577 |
(5,288,467) |
(1,690,245) |
Six months ended |
|
|
|
|
|
End user activity |
Data activity |
Group |
Total |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
|
|
|
Segment revenue |
2,216,519 |
417,892 |
- |
2,634,411 |
Cost of sales |
- |
(252,018) |
- |
(252,018) |
Segment gross profit |
2,216,519 |
165,874 |
- |
2,382,393 |
Administrative expenses |
- |
- |
(3,297,948) |
(3,297,948) |
Share based payments charge |
- |
- |
(448,439) |
(448,439) |
Depreciation |
- |
- |
(128,209) |
(128,209) |
Amortization |
- |
- |
(711,404) |
(711,404) |
Interest payable |
- |
- |
(38,478) |
(38,478) |
Interest income |
- |
- |
5,781 |
5,781 |
Segment net profit / (loss) |
2,216,519 |
165,874 |
(4,618,697) |
(2,236,304) |
|
|
|
|
|
End user activity revenue is the Bango revenue share for processing transactions through the Bango Platform. Bango earns revenue calculated either as a share of the net of tax figure or as a fixed value per transaction. Assets for this segment are amounts due from merchants or payment providers. Liabilities for this segment are mainly fees payable to payment providers for provision of services and fees payable to merchants for provision of content sold by Bango to end users.
Bango data activity relates to revenues generated from fees and by third parties monetizing their data by using Bango technology to segment their data and sell it through the trading desk integrations. Revenue is either a monthly software as a service fee or a revenue share from selling the data to third parties. Assets from this segment are fees from data owners and liabilities relate to sums owed to data owners. Liabilities also relating to the deferred consideration for the Audiens are shown in this segment.
5. |
Loss per share
|
Basic loss per share is calculated by dividing the loss attributable to equity holders of
|
Six months ended Unaudited |
Six months ended Unaudited |
Year ended Audited |
|
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
|
|
|
Loss attributable to equity holders of |
(1,283,937) |
(1,923,207) |
(2,863,539) |
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue |
70,361,350 |
69,291,691 |
69,736,418 |
|
|
|
|
Basic loss per share |
(1.82) p |
(2.78)p |
(4.11)p |
|
|
|
|
Diluted loss per share |
(1.82) p |
(2.78)p |
(4.11)p |
At
6. Share capital
Allotted, called up and fully paid:
Ordinary shares of 20p each in
|
No |
£ |
|
|
|
As at |
66,422,803 |
13,284,561 |
|
|
|
Issue of new shares |
3,310,693 |
662,139 |
Exercise of share options |
534,412 |
106,882 |
As at |
70,267,908 |
14,053,582 |
|
|
|
Exercise of share options |
186,431 |
37,286 |
|
|
|
As at |
70,454,339 |
14,090,868 |
7. |
Publication of non-statutory accounts
|
The condensed consolidated interim financial information was approved by The Board of Directors on
The financial information set out in this interim report does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. The figures for the period ended
Independent review report to
Introduction
We have been engaged by the Company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the interim financial report for the six months ended
Directors' Responsibilities
The interim financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing and presenting the interim financial report in accordance with the AIM Rules of the
As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with
Our Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial statements in the interim financial report based on our review.
Scope of Review
We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410, "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the
Conclusion
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the interim financial report for the six months ended
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the Company in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410 "'Review of Interim Financial Information performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Auditing Practices Board. Our review work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company those matters we are required to state to them in an independent review report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have formed.
Chartered Accountants
Second Floor
North Wing East
City House
126-130 Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 1RE
Date
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
The Company is a publisher. You understand and agree that no content published on the Site constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of...
FOR OUR FULL DISCLAIMER CLICK HERE