Bango PLC (AIM:BGO, OTCQX:BGOPF, FRA:B1O) said it moved into positive cash generation last year after cutting costs and accelerating growth in its subscription platform, marking what the Cambridge-based group called an “important year” in its turnaround.
In a trading update for the year to December 31, the payments and subscription technology group said it generated positive cash earnings of about $2.3 million, a swing of $2.5 million from the previous year, when cash earnings were negative. The company said it expected that improvement to accelerate in 2026.
The main driver was strong growth in recurring revenue, the predictable income generated from ongoing customer contracts.
Annual recurring revenue rose 30% to $18.2 million, underpinned by almost 60% growth in the number of active subscriptions running through Bango’s Digital Vending Machine, or DVM. This is the company’s platform that allows telecoms groups to bundle and manage subscriptions, such as streaming services, for their customers.
Bango said none of its live customers left during the year, meaning subscription growth translated directly into higher spending from existing clients.
That pushed net revenue retention, a measure of how much more existing customers spend year on year, to 117%, meaning customers spent 17% more than the year before.
The group signed a record 12 new large corporate customers for the DVM in 2025, up from nine in each of the previous two years.
It said seven of the eight biggest telecoms companies in the United States now use the platform, with new rollouts also secured in Japan, South Korea, Turkey and South Africa.
Some large contracts slipped from the end of 2025 into the new financial year because of slower customer decision-making, but Bango said the value of those deals had not changed.
Total revenue for the year is expected to come in at $52.2 million, slightly lower than the year before, largely because Bango deliberately exited a small number of low-margin transactional routes.
Transactional revenue, income earned by taking a cut of what consumers pay, fell to $33.4 million, but the core part of that business still grew 6%.
Crucially, gross margins improved sharply, rising by more than six percentage points to 84.5%, reflecting the growing weight of higher-margin subscription income.
The company also pointed to tight cost control. Core administrative expenses fell by $2.9 million, helped by a reduction in headcount from 219 to 164, despite a $1.1 million hit from foreign exchange movements.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a commonly used measure of underlying operating performance, rose 7% to at least $16.3 million.
Net debt stood at $9.3 million at the end of December, up from $1.8 million a year earlier, reflecting refinancing activity and the timing of cash receipts. Bango said it expected debt levels to fall “materially” in 2026 as cash generation improves.
Paul Larbey, the chief executive, said the company was now “well positioned to generate improved profitability and free cash flow in FY26”, pointing to embedded cost savings, a stronger subscription pipeline and improving revenue visibility.