Mobile Tornado Group PLC Half-year Report (9098A)

TIDMMBT

RNS Number : 9098A

Mobile Tornado Group PLC

28 September 2022

Mobile Tornado Group plc

("Mobile Tornado", the "Company" or the "Group")

Half Yearly Report

Mobile Tornado (AIM: MBT), a leading provider of resource management mobile solutions to the enterprise market, announces its unaudited results for the six-month period to 30 June 2022.

Financial highlights

 
 
                            Six months   Six months 
                                 ended        ended 
                               30 June      30 June 
                                  2022         2021 
                             Unaudited    Unaudited 
                               GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Recurring revenue                 932        1,066 
 Non-recurring revenue*            172          203 
-------------------------  -----------  ----------- 
 Total revenue                   1,104        1,269 
 
 Gross profit                    1,066        1,232 
 
 Administrative expenses       (1,275)      (1,219) 
 
 Adjusted EBITDA**               (209)           13 
 
 
 Group operating loss            (454)         (76) 
 
 Loss before tax                 (775)        (378) 
                           -----------  ----------- 
 
 
   --              Total revenue decreased by 13% to GBP1.10m (H1 2021: GBP1.27m)

o Recurring revenues decreased by 13% to GBP0.93m (H1 2021: GBP1.07m)

o Non-recurring revenues* decreased by 15% to GBP0.17m (H1 2021: GBP0.20m)

-- Operating expenses increased by 5% to GBP1.28m (H1 2021: GBP1.22m) - adversely impacted by the depreciation of sterling comparative to the previous period

   --              Adjusted EBITDA** loss of GBP0.21m (H1 2021 GBP0.01m profit)

-- Group operating loss for the period increased to GBP0.45m (H1 2021: GBP0.08m) - impacted by further exchange differences of GBP0.15m loss (H1 2021: GBP0.08m gain)

   --              Loss before tax of GBP0.78m (H1 2021: GBP0.38m) 
   --              Basic loss per share of 0.20p (H1 2021: 0.09p) 
   --            Net cash inflow from operating activities of GBP0.02m (H1 2021: GBP0.11m) 
   --              Net debt at 30 June 2022 of GBP10.03m (H1 2021: GBP9.09m) 
   --              Cash and cash equivalents of GBP0.12m (30 June 2021: GBP0.16m)

*Non-recurring revenues comprising installation fees, hardware, professional services and capex license fees

**Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, exceptional items and excluding exchange differences

Operating Highlights

-- Commercial discussions in progress with organisation in South America requiring mission critical capabilities, after successful trials concluded

   --              Deal closed in Caribbean with leading mobile network operator ('MNO')

-- Further platform operating efficiencies achieved, creating additional costs savings effective from the second half

   --              Development of further functionality across our resource management solution

Jeremy Fenn, Chairman of Mobile Tornado, said: "Having delivered a solid set of numbers for the first half, we have also progressed a number of strategically important engagements in our key markets, with major trials concluding successfully. The quality of our communication platform has been validated by significant and credible organisations, and we are now working to ensure the deals are concluded this year.

"Alongside our existing target markets, we are encouraged by the progress that has been made in the UK during the first half and are now carefully exploring how we can develop a wider European opportunity.

"I'm confident that the business is emerging from a difficult two years and there are some high-quality prospects developing across all of our markets. We are focused on moving the business back to operating profitability by the end of this financial year."

Enquiries:

 
                                                 +44 (0)7734 475 
 Mobile Tornado Group plc                         888 
 Jeremy Fenn, Chairman                           www.mobiletornado.com 
 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser      +44 (0)20 3328 
  & Broker)                                       5656 
 James Reeve/Piers Shimwell (Corporate 
  Finance) 
  David Johnson (Sales and Corporate Broking)

Financial results

Total turnover in the six-month period to 30 June 2022 decreased by 13% to GBP1.10m (H1 2021: GBP1.27m). Recurring revenues decreased by 13% to GBP0.93m (H1 2021: GBP1.07m). Our customer in Canada which ceased at the end of 2021 as previously reported, accounted for 22% of total revenue and 18% of recurring revenues in the prior year comparative figures. It is pleasing to report therefore, that outside of this, we recorded a modest increase in both our total and recurring revenues across the remainder of our customer base.

Non-recurring revenues, comprising installation fees, hardware, professional services and capex license fees decreased by 15% to GBP0.17m (H1 2021: GBP0.20m). Gross profit decreased by 13% to GBP1.07m (H1 2021: GBP1.23m).

The majority of our operating expenses are denominated in New Israeli Shekels and whilst our underlying operating cost-base remained largely unchanged over the comparative period on a like-for-like basis, our reported operating expenses increased by 5% to GBP1.28m (H1 2021: GBP1.22m) due primarily to the depreciation of Sterling comparative to the first half of the previous period.

Due to the annual revaluation of certain financial liabilities on the balance sheet, the Group reported a currency translational loss of GBP0.15m (H1 2021: GBP0.08m gain) arising principally from the depreciation of Sterling against the US Dollar comparative to the start of the period. As a result of the above, the loss after tax for the period increased to GBP0.76m (H1 2021: Loss of GBP0.36m).

The Group reported a net cash inflow from operating activities during the period of GBP0.02m (H1 2021: GBP0.11m) reflecting the continued strong focus on cash management. At 30 June 2022, the Group had GBP0.12m cash at bank (30 June 2021: GBP0.16m) and net debt of GBP10.03m (30 June 2021: GBP9.09m).

Review of operations

Whilst the financial performance of the business during the first half was fairly steady, we made some excellent progress across all our key markets.

Significant trials were concluded with major customers across South and Central America. In certain of these trials, our platform was being tested for its mission critical capabilities. This has been driven by the success we have seen over the last two years in Colombia, where the platform has performed at 100% availability. For this reason, our territory partner has been keen to showcase the solution to customers that require mission critical credentials, and we have worked hard to support these extensive trials. We are now engaged on commercial discussions with a view to first deployments during the final quarter of 2022.

Our partner in the Caribbean signed a deal with a leading mobile network operator ('MNO') and discussions and trials are now being conducted with multiple customers across a number of countries. A healthy sales pipeline has developed, and we are now exploring expansion into Central America with the same MNO.

Activity levels with our partner in South Africa have been subdued given the economic and political difficulties in the country, but we remain engaged with the public utilities and agencies that continue to discuss the deployment of our platform. We are hopeful that budgets and decision making will materialise in the second half of the year and provide the catalyst for wider engagement in this territory.

As previously reported, our workforce management solution was launched into our partner network and I'm pleased to report that our first customer, based in the UK, was loaded onto the system. Following positive feedback from our partner network, further enhancements are currently being made to the offering which we are hopeful will accelerate uptake.

We have seen some strong sales activity across the UK following the appointment of a new partner last year. As a result, we are looking carefully at the possibility of extending our business development footprint into the wider European market. We have been necessarily constrained in recent years through the impact of the pandemic and the consequent resourcing constraints. Given the feedback we are getting from our partner and customers in the UK, we are confident that now is the right time to open up activities in Europe alongside our current focus in Africa and South America.

We continue to drive efficiencies within the business and through a continued improvement in the technical platform, we have further shifted resource into our lower cost technical centre in India, allowing us to reduce the office and ancillary costs in Israel. These savings will materialise during the second half.

Research and development

Our resource management solution, which combines the current Push to Talk ('PTT') application with workforce management functionality ('WFM') and mobile device management ('MDM'), was launched to our partner network during the period. As detailed above, we deployed with our first customer in the UK, but have run many more trials. These have generated positive feedback and driven the development of further functionality and feature sets across the platform. These include -

-- a 'Dual Recorder' function for high availability system wide recording - this feature is specifically required for public safety customers such as Police forces

-- full multimedia messaging allowing the transmission of large, compressed video files to users and dispatchers

-- Google maps integration allowing the sharing of location data to all devices for users in distress

-- the enhancement of the 'Man Down' feature to a full 'Lone Worker' solution allowing better monitoring of users operating in remote or hazardous areas - this solution is required by law across the UK and Europe and constitutes a very large addressable market

The technical team have also successfully completed tests to operate all our applications across the public cloud. This will provide us with additional sales opportunities around the world, regardless of customer location, and significantly reduce the cost of ownership for all customers.

Funding

As announced on 24 March 2022, we agreed a 12-month extension of our revolving loan facility with our principal shareholder Intechnology plc, as well as an increase to the maximum principal amount that may be drawn. This facility now has a term ending on 26 September 2023 with a maximum principal amount of GBP500,000 (previously GBP300,000). The balance drawn down at 30 June 2022 was GBP300,000 and as at today's date, the balance drawn down is GBP350,000.

We remain confident that our available cash resources together with our long-established recurring revenue customer base and anticipated future contracts will provide us with adequate financial resources for the foreseeable future.

Outlook

Having delivered a solid set of numbers for the first half, we have also progressed a number of strategically important engagements in our key markets, with major trials concluding successfully. The quality of our communication platform has been validated by significant and credible organisations, and we are now working to ensure the deals are concluded this year.

Alongside our existing target markets, we are encouraged by the progress that has been made in the UK during the first half and are now carefully exploring how we can develop a wider European opportunity.

I'm confident that the business is emerging from a difficult two years and there are some high-quality prospects developing across all of our markets. We are focused on moving the business back to operating profitability by the end of this financial year.

Jeremy Fenn

Chairman

28 September 2022

Consolidated income statement