Bango PLC (AIM:BGO, OTCQX:BGOPF) reported a 29% increase in earnings for last year and said the first quarter of 2024 has sustained good momentum.
Revenue grew 62% to $46.1 million in 2023, having won nine new Digital Vending Machine (DVM) license customers to bring the total to 18, including three of the top five US telcos.
Bango added 33 new subscription content provider customers to take the total to 93.
Chief executive Paul Larbey said the strategic focus on capturing the subscription bundling opportunity with the Bango DVM is “seeing growing momentum”, with a doubling of the customer base and a strong growth of 77% in annualised recurring revenue.
“Our technology is trusted by some of the largest companies in the world who rely on Bango to help them acquire and retain customers.”
He said a major focus on integrating the DOCOMO acquisition has “materially accelerated our growth”, with all $21 million of cost synergies realised.
“With the end of year integration challenges having now been identified and addressed, we have a clear pathway to deliver further operational and cost synergies in 2024.”
Underlying profit (EBITDA) increased to $6.4 million from $5.0 million a year earlier.
But as Bango and its NewDeep partner have decided to wind down the joint venture, a $2.8 million impairment and a $1.8 million net loss share, plus $3.8 million negative goodwill adjustment, meant an $8.8 million net loss was reported.
No significant costs related to NewDeep are expected in 2024 and the loss, though $6.7 million higher than in the previous year, does not yet reflect the full impact of the synergy savings which will become more apparent this year, noted Bango.
The year ended with the DVM sales opportunity funnel seven times larger than a year earlier, part of the reason why Bango reported a “strong first quarter, sustaining good momentum and growing in-line with the plan” and reiterated guidance for the full year.
Revenue in the first quarter was stated to have grown more than 20% year on year, with annualised recurring revenue at the end of March 2024 increasing to $11 million from $8.8 million at the end of last year.
Bango said the Tier-1 US telco customer launched as expected during the quarter, triggering the start of the initial license fee tier with a minimum $2 million annual recurring revenue.
Four new DVM wins were bagged, with a long-time leading European telco extending its contract for a further three years with a minimum contract value of $1.5 million.
Also, the first launch of telco bundling for the previously announced ‘global technology leader’ also happened in the quarter.
“We entered 2024 with increased momentum, a significantly expanded pipeline and a larger customer base providing clear growth opportunities,” Larbey said.
“The subscriptions market remains buoyant, with an increasing variety of services available beyond music and movies. As consumers add subscriptions in all aspects of their lives, it drives the need for a solution to manage these subscriptions and the opportunity for the DVM to become the standard industry platform for subscription bundling.”