---ADDS SHARE PRICE AND COMMENT---
Shares in theme Park ticketing specialist accesso (LON:ACSO) soared over 25% as the tech group predicted improving earnings for the next two and a half years as the benefits of new contracts come through.
In a separate announcement, it revealed an exclusive long term agreement with attractions giant Merlin Entertainments (LON:MERL), whose brands include, among others, LEGOLAND, to provide onsite ticketing and eCommerce across Merlin's global estate.
The double whammy of positive statements puts a cherry on the top of a successful few months for accesso, which specialises in virtual queueing and ticketing solutions across four product divisions.
House broker Numis highlighted the scale of the Merlin contract, noting it looked to be of a similar size to accesso itself before it was signed.
Accesso said earnings this year - 2015 - will meet previous guidance, with momentum described as excellent across all divisions, but said the pace will pick up after that.
“In addition, encouraged by strong trading, and excellent new contract momentum across the business, the board now expects 2016 to be ahead of current expectations, and 2017 to be materially ahead of current expectations," it revealed.
The initial Merlin contract term is for seven years and includes the installation and deployment of the hosted accesso Passport ticketing solutions.
Installation will take three years and will include more than 100 attractions around the world including LEGOLAND Parks, Madame Tussauds, SEA LIFE and The Eye Brand.
Speaking to Proactive Investors, upbeat accesso chief Tom Burnet said he was incredibly "proud" of the Merlin deal, saying the group was "one of the great British success stories".
Meanwhile, Numis analyst David Toms noted that as a standalone, the deal was clearly "material", but also came on top of a strong run of contract wins in recent months.
These, combined, drive up significant upgrades (24-30% for full year 2017), a point, which was also emphasised in the trading update, he said.
Toms added that he thinks the Merlin relationship offers yet further upside, through such aspects as expanding accesso's global operational footprint.
Numis rates the shares a 'buy' and has lifted its target price to 910p from 730p previously.
It forecasts pre-tax profit of US$11mln for full year 2015 rising to US$16.9mln for 2017.
Today's announcement comes hot off the heels of a statement on July 6, saying the US ticketing businesses had signed up another 16 new customers, meaning 60 new clients had been added in the first half of 2015.
And in May, accesso reported strong attendances from a number of its theme Park customers.
US Park titan Six Flags and Legoland in the UK already use its queuing systems, while over the past year it has added a raft of new venues as ticketing and visit planning customers in the US.
A new e-commerce store for its Passport ticketing platform had boosted sales five-fold, while a new theme Park queuing tool started trials this summer.
In June, it made inroads into the Malaysian market, signing a five-year deal with Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) to install accesso’s smartphone-based queueing solution, Qsmart.
Shares in accesso today surged 25.7% to stand at 672.5p.