Bango shares head north after buoyant interim update

30 Sep, 2024
Tony Quested
Cambridge mobile commerce market leader Bango is set to cash in hugely on the globally vast growing subscriptions market. The company has laid the foundations for take-off by hitting all its targets in the six months to June 30 and CEO Paul Larbey expects more.
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Bango CEO Paul Larbey. Courtesy – Bango.

The stock was almost six per cent higher within two hours of London trading this morning as Bango disclosed transactional revenue 9.4 per cent higher on a constant currency basis.

Other Income of $1.4 million, which is not included in that revenue figure, related to recovery of tax costs from the acquisition of DOCOMO Digital; $1.1m will be accounted for as a tax cost, resulting in $0.3m profit. During the period, Bango signed four new Digital Vending Machine® (DVM) including a Bank in Brazil. Post-period there have been a further three new customer wins.

A leading European telco that adopted the DVM in 2020 extended its contract for a further three years, with a minimum contract value of $1.5m over the term. 13 new subscription content providers were added to the DVM in 1H24, taking the total to 106.

As previously announced, Bango signed a global agreement with Uber to accelerate the take-up of Uber One subscriptions through telco channels, proving the appeal of the Bango DVM beyond digital video, music and gaming services.

The 'global technology leader' (announced in June 2022) launched its first two telcos with Bango in 1H24. Additional launches are underway.

Larbey says: “The first six months of 2024 have gone to plan and are in-line with the trading update issued in July. The payments business continues to deliver growth, providing cash to fund expansion of the Digital Vending Machine® (DVM), which continues to be adopted as the defacto standard platform for subscription bundling by the world's largest companies.

“The addition of Disney+ to the Bango eDisti program is further evidence of this and will help accelerate time-to-revenue from DVM deals. With four new DVM wins in the 1H and a further three in Q3, the pipeline built over the past years continued to deliver results and provides confidence in meeting market expectations for the full year.

“The subscriptions market is vast and growing and the percentage of subscriptions bundled through channels is increasing. Bango's leadership position in this market is strengthening with the DVM now playing a key role in the customer acquisition and engagement strategies of major content brands.

“We are excited by the opportunity ahead and remain on track to continue our strong growth trajectory and return to a positive net cash position in FY25.”