Saas firm LoopUp hit revenues of £13.6m and EBITDA of £2.1, a 101% increase YOY
Companies: LoopUp Group PLC
UK tech company LoopUp Group plc (LON: LOOP), surprised investors on Wednesday by announcing that its 2016 results will come in ahead of expectations when released later this quarter.
The recently-IPO'd firm also struck a positive tone for 2017 as the group continues to invest and see strong demand for its product.
Overall revenues grew 39% in FY16 hitting £13.6m, up from £10.1m in FY15. Revenue growth increased year-on-year, up from 36% last year and 38% the year before.
Its main success came from the legal and financial professional services sectors, with big contract wins with a global 'magic circle' law firm and a U.S. financial services firm.
The Group is in a decent financial position, with net cash falling to £2.2m from the £2.7m at its IPO in August. Most of the spend since then, as outlined at the IPO, has been spent investing in a London-based marketing team, expanding products, and growing staff numbers to 116 at year-end.
"The newly formed marketing team launched a new corporate website which included re-designed LoopUp branding and refreshed messaging and positioning...
In November, the Group released a major new product version, which further enhanced its streamlined and intuitive user experience."
Broker Panmure Gordon covered the update in a note published on Wednesday, saying the valuation and forecasts going into 2017 has allowed Panmure to restate its "conservative" 150p target price (30% upside):
"International SaaS peers continue to trade on a median / average rating of 15x / >20x EV/EBITDA. We raise our sales and EPS forecasts for FY Dec’17 modestly (details below). We see 100%+ forecast profit CAGR to 2018."
Panmure says LoopUp beat its sales and EBITDA forecasts by 3% £12.8m and £2.1m respectively.
LoopUp shares jumped 8% in early trading on Wednesday