10th Sep 2014 09:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Accesso Technology Group PLC Wednesday swung to a small pretax loss in the first-half as a jump in revenue was offset by a rise in costs, but said it expects the group to perform in line with expectations for the full-year after reiterating that its results tend to be weighted to the second-half.
The company, which provides technology solutions to the attractions and leisure industry, said its pretax loss in the six months to June 30 was USD37,000, against a USD354,000 profit last year.
The loss came despite a rise in revenue to USD25.9 million from USD21 million a year earlier. While the group's cost of sales remained flat, its administrative expenses jumped to USD11.8 million from USD6.5 million a year ago. That rise in costs completely wiped out the overall rise in gross profit for the group to USD11.8 million from USD6.9 million last year.
The group said its trading is traditionally weighted to the second-half of the year and expressed optimism for its full-year results given the rise in gross profit in the period. It said it expects the business to perform in line with expectations for the full-year.
In its Accesso LoQueue business, its virtual queuing solution, the group signed agreements with The Movie Animation Park Studios in Malaysia and renewed deals with Dreamworld in Australia and Heide Park in Germany, along with LEGOLAND Windsor Resort and Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK.
Accesso Passport, its ticketing software suite, also signed a slew of new deals in the period, including a new agreement with FTSE 250-listed Merlin Entertainments PLC. It also won its first deal in Belgium via a three-year contract with Compagnie des Alpes and signed a three-year deal with Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Siriusware, the US ticketing and point-of-sale software and hardware solutions provider Accesso bought in December, has signed deals with Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in the period, along with a slew of other wins, including the Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas.
"We have continued to develop our offering during the first half with the plans and goals we set for ourselves. We are enabling more operators to engage profitably with their guests and increasingly convincing our customers of the value in our broader offering. The scale of our operations is significant in terms of the millions of customers we help our clients serve and we believe there is a great deal more to come," said Accesso Chief Executive Tom Burnet.
"We have also been focusing on investment and integration, building and improving our services and products with the aim of supporting the entire digital customer journey, achieving early wins from our newest business Siriusware as we look to integrate our Accesso offering. As always, the second half is where the significant balance of revenue is generated. Our focus will be to deliver that revenue from our much larger, combined business, with ticketing at the heart of that journey," Burnet added.
Accesso shares were down 1.1% to 497 pence per share on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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