Bango final results show profit and growth

Bango (AIM: BGO), the mobile commerce company, today announces its Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2019.

FY2019 Financial performance
· End User Spend (EUS) increased to £1.1Bn, continuing the five-year trend of doubling EUS every year (2018: £0.56Bn)
· Group revenue increased 41% to £9.31m (2018: £6.62m)
· Payment and data monetization revenue grew to £7.16m and £2.15m respectively (2018: £5.25m and £1.37m)
· Group admin costs were £7.45m (2018: £6.69m) following the decision to increase investment in the data monetization business
· Adjusted EBITDA* for the full year was positive at £0.45m (2018: -£0.87m)
· Cash at 31 December 2019 was £2.69m, an increase from the cash position at 30 June 2019 of £2.25m  

*Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, share based payment charge and exceptional items.

2019 Operational performance
· New merchants joined the Bango circle including YouTube TV, AETolls and Spotify
· New routes were launched for Amazon Prime, Pandora and Google Play in countries including Peru, Singapore, Chile, Myanmar, Morocco, South Africa and USA
· Bango Resale technology opened up the 3Bn user pre-paid market and expanded beyond mobile with service launches for Fixed and Pay TV operators
· Bango Marketplace continues to gain traction with repeat sales to app developers who see up to a nine times increase in the return on their marketing investment
· Credit card payment data was introduced to Bango Marketplace through a strategic partnership with payment and entertainment giant NHN, opening-up the Bango Platform to new growth opportunities

Outlook
· Management expects continued exponential EUS growth driven by success from existing customers, new opportunities from 5G and the new market opportunities that 2020 will bring
· Success with retail sales, bundled offerings and digital wallets together with monetization of credit card payment data provides an expanding market opportunity for Bango
· Management expects that Bango Marketplace will contribute further to revenue growth in 2020 as the momentum developed in 2019 continues
· The deals referred to in the December 2019 Trading Update are still in negotiation and are expected to close in 1H2020.

Paul Larbey, Chief Executive Officer of Bango, commented: "2019 was a great year for the continual evolution of the Bango Platform. In line with our strategy, once again we doubled End User Spend, but more importantly expanded our market opportunity with the development of our data monetization business. Bango Marketplace is now established and enters 2020 with a strong pipeline. Bango's ambitious growth plans have delivered profit and, as I look at the opportunities ahead in 2020, my confidence in our ambitions is reinforced by Bango's unique combination of payments with data-driven intelligence for our customers and partners around the world."


Corona disease (COVID-19) outbreak

Following the outbreak of Covid-19, Bango employees in Cambridge, Milan, California, Tokyo and Seoul are increasingly operating from home, fully equipped to work remotely and online to maintain business growth. 98% of Bango customer contact is already remote, so key activities are being maintained while travel is reduced.

With no supply chain dependencies, Bango products continue to be available without interruption. While much of the platform operation is automated, we have an operations team across multiple sites ready to help our partners. This support can be provided from anywhere with an internet connection.

Analysis shows that Bango experiences an increase in End User Spend (EUS) during seasonal stay at home periods, for example the end of year holidays and festivals such as Ramadan and Christmas. Marketers spend more on their campaigns at such periods of higher online activity. If the outbreak of Covid-19 leads to more time at home, this is expected to generate more end user spending and more targeted marketing. Early data from Bango and others shows that consumer spending on online services and entertainment is already increasing, particularly in countries where there are extensive "stay at home" policies.

Bango investment for growth is funded by internal cash generation, so access to capital is not an issue.



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