TIDMECK

RNS Number : 2754H

Eckoh PLC

23 November 2022

23 November 2022

Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or the "Group")

Unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2022

- Trading in line with market expectations; on track to deliver material growth in FY23

- Group and North America ARR and total orders growing strongly

- Syntec integration progressing to plan - new security solutions portfolio and

expanded addressable market enhancing future growth opportunity

Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK) the global provider of Customer Engagement Security Solutions, is pleased to announce unaudited results for the six months to 30 September 2022.

 
 GBPm (unless otherwise stated)      H1 FY23   H1 FY22   Change 
---------------------------------- 
 Revenue                              19.6      14.7      +33% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Gross profit                         15.5      11.9      +31% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Group ARR(1)                         27.8      18.3      +52% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 North America Security Solutions 
  ARR(1) ($m)                         13.8       8.1      +71% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Adjusted EBITDA(3)                    5.0       3.5      +44% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Adjusted operating profit(4)          4.2       2.8      +52% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Profit before taxation                2.9       2.4      +23% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Adjusted diluted earnings 
  (pence per share)(5)                1.06      0.80      +32% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 Total contracted business(6)         17.6      11.5      +54% 
                                    --------  --------  ------- 
 

Strategic highlights

   --      Results on track to deliver material growth in FY23, in-line with market expectations(7) 
   --      Continued strong ARR(1) growth, driven predominantly by the North American market 

-- Integration of transformational Syntec acquisition and new product development progressing well and on plan

-- Encouraging initial levels of cross selling from the new portfolio, which is extending the total addressable market

-- Security Solutions sales activity continues to be driven by cloud deals and international mandates

o Two large cloud deals signed in the half with a leading global hotel group and a large US retailer, both taking multiple products including voice security, digital payments and advanced speech

-- Fundamental industry shift to remote working and ongoing migration to cloud supporting growth opportunity

Financial highlights

   --      Strong performance, as previously announced in Trading Update on 1 November 2022 

-- Group revenue grew by 33% to GBP19.6m from the addition of Syntec, and underlying, organic growth

-- Group ARR(1) up 52%, reflecting the market opportunity, ongoing shift to cloud and successful renewals

-- Recurring revenue(2) increased by 43% to GBP15.5m, representing 79% of total revenues (H1 FY22: GBP10.9m; 74%), reflecting the successful renewals in the North America territory in the period

-- Adjusted operating profit(4) up 52% to GBP4.2m (H1 FY22: GBP2.8m) driven by continued revenue growth, the ongoing impact of prior year cost savings and benefit from FX movements

-- Total contracted business(6) was GBP17.6m (H1 FY22 GBP11.5m), a strong recovery, increasing by 54%, with new business growing by 67% to GBP8.2m

   --      North America territory performed strongly: 

o ARR(1) of $13.8m, up 71% (H1 FY22: $8.1m) and 16% growth since end of March 2022 (which reflects like-for-like growth following the completion of Syntec)

o Revenue of $10.6m, up 33%, (H1 FY22: $7.9m)

o Recurring revenue up 9% to 73%, driven by successful renewals and continuing cloud adoptions

-- UK, Ireland and ROW revenues returned to growth with single digit growth expected going forward

o Revenue up 22%, to GBP10.9 m (H1 FY22: GBP9.0 m)

o ARR(1) of GBP16.4m, up 32% from last year (H1 FY22: GBP12.4 m)

o Excellent levels of successful renewals including the two largest this financial year

-- Balance sheet remains strong following the GBP31m acquisition of Syntec in December 2021, with net cash of GBP4.4m at 30 September 2022 (H1 FY22: GBP12.7m)

Outlook

-- Eckoh is trading in-line with market expectations(7) ; on track to deliver material growth in FY23, without yet benefiting markedly from the new security solutions product set

-- With an increasingly relevant product portfolio, resilient business model, high recurring revenues, and a robust balance sheet, Eckoh is well placed to continue the strong progress in the coming years

1. ARR is the annual recurring revenue of all contracts billing at the end of the period. Included within Group ARR is all revenue that is contractually committed and an element of UK revenue that has proven to be repeatable, but not contractually committed.

2. Recurring revenue is defined as on-going revenue on a transactional basis, rather than revenue derived from the set-up and delivery of a new service or hardware.

3. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is the profit before tax adjusted for depreciation of owned and leased assets, amortisation of intangible assets, expenses relating to share option schemes, restructuring costs and transactional costs.

4. Adjusted operating profit is the profit before tax adjusted for amortisation of acquired intangible assets, expenses relating to share option schemes, restructuring and transactional costs

5. Adjusted earnings pence per share - the Group issued 36.2m new ordinary shares during FY22 in connection with the acquisition of Syntec which results in an increase in the weighted average shares in issue across the period.

6. Total contracted business includes new business from new clients and from existing clients as well as renewals with existing clients.

7. Eckoh believes that consensus market expectations for the year ending 31 March 2023 is revenue of GBP40.25 million and adjusted operating profit of GBP7.45 million.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer, said: "These are a great set of results, showing the anticipated strong progress in key areas. I am particularly pleased with the increasing organic and overall levels of ARR and contracted orders. They reflect our organic growth, the successful integration of Syntec, strong growth in the key North American market, and the ongoing momentum from cloud deployments.

The customer engagement industry is already facing new security challenges from the permanent shift towards greater remote working, and a deteriorating global economic environment is likely to only exacerbate the number of security threats. Organisations who ignore these risks do so at their potential reputational and financial peril. We believe our enhanced set of security solutions will not only help companies to address these issues but also drive significantly better performance from their customer engagement and increase customer satisfaction.

Our addressable market, which was already significant, has been expanded further by our new solution set, and the global opportunity supported by our enhanced cloud platforms will help drive our ongoing growth and the future exciting prospects for Eckoh."

For more information, please contact:

 
 Eckoh plc                                     Tel: 01442 458 300 
  Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer 
  Chrissie Herbert, Chief Financial Officer 
  www.eckoh.com 
 FTI Consulting LLP                            Tel: 020 3727 1017 
  Ed Bridges / Jamie Ricketts / Tom Blundell 
  eckoh@fticonsulting.com 
 Singer Capital Markets (Nomad & Joint         Tel: 020 7496 3000 
  Broker) 
  Shaun Dobson / Tom Salvesen / Alex Bond 
  / Kailey Aliyar 
  www.singercm.com 
 Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker)      Tel: 020 7523 8000 
  Simon Bridges / Emma Gabriel 
  www.canaccordgenuity.com 
 

About Eckoh plc

Eckoh is a global provider of Customer Engagement Security Solutions, supporting an international client base from its offices in the UK and US.

Our Customer Engagement Security Solutions enable enquiries and transactions to be performed on whatever device the customer chooses, allowing organisations to increase efficiency, lower operational costs and provide a true omnichannel experience.

We help our clients to take payments and transact securely with their customers through all customer engagement channels. The solutions, which are protected by multiple patents, remove sensitive personal and payment data from contact centres and IT environments and are delivered globally through our multiple Cloud platforms or can be deployed on the client's site. They offer merchants a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of fraud, secure sensitive data and become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") and wider data security regulations.

Eckoh has been a PCI DSS Level One Accredited Service Provider since 2010, and our extensive portfolio of typically large enterprise clients come from a broad range of vertical markets and includes government departments, telecoms providers, retailers, utility providers and financial services organisations.

For more information go to www.eckoh.com or email MediaResponseUK@eckoh.com .

Introduction and Financial Highlights

The Group performed strongly in the first half of the year, in line with expectations and on track to deliver material growth in the financial year.

Following the acquisition of Syntec in December 2021, the integration process is progressing well, and we are on track to complete integration by the end of the financial year. As previously highlighted, the two businesses were highly complementary and, due to the level of joint team activity, development and cross-selling already achieved, financial results have been presented on a combined basis.

Group ARR(1) showed strong progress and demonstrates the high level of visibility we have in our business model. As of 30 September 2022, Group ARR(1) was GBP27.8 million, an increase of 52% year on year, or 45% at constant exchange rates. This uplift included the addition of the ARR(1) from the Syntec acquisition. ARR(1) for the six-month period to 30 September 2022 increased by 11% (31 March 2022: GBP25.2 million), which demonstrates how the Group has continued to grow this metric on a like-for-like basis post completion of the acquisition of Syntec.

Historically we have focused solely on the UK and US markets, but with an increasingly cloud-based security proposition enabling increased activity to come from an expanding international market, we have shifted to segmenting our activity into North America (NA), UK and Ireland (UK & I) and Rest of World (ROW) revenue streams.

Total revenue for the period grew strongly to GBP19.6 million, a year-on year-increase of 33% (H1 FY22: GBP14.7 million) or 26% on a constant currency basis. Recurring revenue for the period was GBP15.5 million, (H1 FY22: GBP10.9 million). Recurring revenue increased significantly from 74% to 79% of Group revenues, a reflection of the increased number of North America renewals. The North America revenue continued to grow strongly, increasing by 33% to $10.6 million in the first half (H1 FY22: $7.9 million). The territory now accounts for 44% of total revenue and we expect that in FY24 the North America revenues will be of equal size to our UK&I market.

Gross profit was GBP15.5 million, an increase year on year of 31% (H1 FY22: GBP11.9 million), with a gross profit margin of 79% (H1 FY22: 81%). Group gross profit margin has decreased slightly year on year due to the increasing contribution from North America.

Adjusted operating profi t(4) for the first half grew significantly by 52% to GBP4.2 million (H1 FY22: GBP2.8 million). The growth was driven by a continued focus on larger international clients, our Cloud-based offering and focus on innovation and the acquisition of Syntec, the cost benefits from the prior year, the synergy benefits of the integration of Syntec ("Syntegration") and a GBP0.7m EBITDA benefit of foreign currency gain (H1 FY22: GBP44k loss) arising from the strength of our North American activity. We have achieved this performance whilst ensuring that we continue to reflect the effects of inflation in the remuneration of our employees.

We have seen renewed activity for new business in the first half, following a challenging period last year. Order levels have recovered strongly and for the period new contracted business was GBP8.2 million, an increase of 67% (H1 FY22: GBP4.9 million). Total business contracted, which accounts for new business and client renewals, has grown similarly strongly to GBP17.6 million (H1 FY22: GBP11.5 million), an increase of 54%, or at constant currency an increase of 47%. This improvement in contracted business will underpin the increasing levels of ARR(1) and continue to improve revenue visibility.

Our balance sheet remains robust with a strong net cash position of GBP4.4 million, an increase of GBP1.6 million from the year end. The reduction in cash from last year (H1 FY22: GBP12.7 million) reflects the completed acquisition of Syntec in December 2021, which was part funded from our cash reserves. The business has a Revolving Credit Facility of GBP5 million, secured against the Group's UK head office, which is an asset we own outright. As at 30 September 2022, our revolving credit facility remains undrawn.

A clear growth strategy

Our mission is t o set the standard for secure interactions between consumers and the world's leading brands. Our innovative products build trust and deliver value through exceptional experiences.

Our strategic objectives reflect our goal to become the global leader in our area of expertise: Customer Engagement Security Solutions.

Our key strategic goals are:

   --      Capturing further market leadership in Customer Engagement Security Solutions 

-- Capitalising on the fast-growing global market for technology solutions that help protect customer data

-- Maximising client value and retention through cross-selling to generate higher levels of recurring income

-- Making cloud our primary platform and using cloud technologies to develop and enhance our proprietary solutions

-- Evaluating acquisition opportunities that can support our growth strategy in Customer Engagement security

Highly relevant suite of security solutions, designed to protect without compromising experience

Following the acquisition of Syntec we updated and unified our proposition into a new go-to-market vision of Customer Engagement Security Solutions. Our patented products already help organisations to reduce the risk of fraud; secure sensitive data; comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ("PCI DSS") and wider security regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") or the US Consumer Privacy Acts. Eckoh prevents sensitive personal and payment data from entering IT and contact centre environments when customers make payments for goods and services.

Going forward all our new customer engagement offerings will be underpinned with security features and capabilities to assist our clients to address security concerns and increasing regulation, but to do so in a way that doesn't compromise the quality of their customer's experience. An example of this is our live chat offering which incorporates our patented and unique ChatGuard capability, that enables payment or personal information to be entered by a customer into a live chat session without any of that information traversing our client's environment or being shared with an advisor.

Our new suite of solutions is designed for and delivered through our multi-vendor and global cloud platforms, allowing us to better service international contracts (but can also be deployed on-site). The procurement of security solutions to be deployed across multiple territories is certainly increasing, and we will continue to invest in and extend our cloud platforms to support this growth. We have already won a number of these types of contracts; an example would be the 2-year agreement we won in the first half with a leading global hotel brand that will ultimately see our solution deployed across 20 territories. This trend is one of the reasons why we have introduced the new revenue segmentation, with Rest of World ('ROW') becoming a more important component of our future revenue streams.

The growing proportion of cloud deployments we have already seen occur in the North American market will enhance our ability to sell and deliver additional services to some of our largest clients. With our product roadmap extending our security remit beyond payments and into a broader data security proposition, we expect to be able to increase the lifetime value of our clients and continue to have very low levels of churn.

Syntegration progress and output

As part of the integration of Syntec into Eckoh, we formed a cross-company group to work on the unification of people, process, product and technology, a project that we named "Syntegration".

Syntegration is a 3-phase project:

In Phase 1 we concentrated on bringing the core technical teams together and delivering components of our existing voice security solutions (CallGuard and CardEasy) together to gain the most benefit in the least time - thus code base, call density, UI design and overall coordination across branding and core product capabilities.

Phase 2, which we are currently working on, is focused on delivering a combined delivery infrastructure thus allowing for further cost / run-rate reductions whilst gaining operational and deployment efficiencies.

Phase 3, from a people and process perspective will be focused on the operational teams' integration including a combined & cross-trained global support capability from Eckoh's Global Network Operations Centre (NOC). From a technology perspective, Phase 3 will be looking to deliver the first new products derived from the unified technical development team, namely the call recording and transcription.

The cornerstone of the new unified platform is what we are calling the Secure Voice Appliance ("SVA"). This redesigned appliance will handle four times the density of calls than the current appliance, allow sub-1 second mid-call failover, seamless upgrades without service interruption, a single code base for both cloud and physical on-site deployment, and highly sophisticated real-time observability and monitoring. This new appliance is now complete and will be used on all new deployments as well as being retrospectively implemented where appropriate.

The overall suite of solutions arising from Syntegration, which we display using a honeycomb visual, currently includes the following segments:

-- Voice security - our core product to protect payments over the phone under the CallGuard or CardEasy brand

-- Secure Chat - live web chat incorporating our patented ChatGuard solution to take payments securely

-- Digital Payments - allowing customers to pay through a secure mobile link whilst connected live to an advisor

   --      DataGuard - securing other forms of personal data as well as payment information 

-- Advanced Speech - using speech recognition to take payment information securely where key entry is unviable

-- Call Recording and Data Redaction - recording calls and redacting sensitive information live or post-call

-- Transcription and AI - using real time transcription to enable agents to deliver more effective and fast assistance

-- Verification and Fraud - improving the verification process to help identify fraudulent activity

The first five are all now available, and in the period, we cross sold all of these into customers who were already taking the Voice Security solution, a key strategic goal for the Group. The first release of the call recording and transcription solution will be completed and launched by the end of the financial year, delivered through the new SVA. Our first solution in the Verification and Fraud area is on the roadmap for FY24 and will include commercialising patents that we already have granted, notably our reverse authentication patent. This enables a consumer to conveniently and easily verify the identity of an adviser contacting them regarding potentially fraudulent activity on their account. This will streamline the process thereby improving efficiency for our client and increasing satisfaction for the end customer.

Our total addressable market, which is already significant, will be enhanced by the expansion and enhancement of our security suite and the global nature of our cloud platform. Given our long-standing cross selling experience in the UK market we believe it is entirely credible that potential customer value could double compared to what was achievable from just the sale of the core voice security product. What is uncertain at this point is how many additional organisations will be targets for the call recording, transcription and verification products, which arguably have an even wider applicability.

Industry trends create new growth drivers in a broadening global market

The target market for our security proposition has historically been any sizeable enterprise or organisation in the UK or US that either transacts or engages with its customers at scale and at volume. This activity will usually be supported either by an in-house or outsourced contact centre provider. However, with the launch of our unified go-to-market proposition of Customer Engagement Security Solutions, enhanced by the new products and delivered through our expanding cloud platforms, not only will this naturally extend our reach geographically, but it will also increase the opportunity within every client account. With regulation tightening and the financial impact of data breaches and fraud growing, organisations are increasingly looking for ways to move beyond the requirement of merely being compliant to secure themselves more comprehensively, leading to broadening information security budgets and remits.

The contact centre industry in both the UK and US is extremely large, representing around 4% of the entire workforce in both markets. However, the impact of the pandemic and the current economic climate has fundamentally changed the way that it operates and the pressures it has to deal with. The most notable change in the industry is the shift to significant levels of remote or home working agents or advisors. Looking at the largest market, the US, the figures shown below, that were outlined in Contact Babel's 'US Contact Center's 2022-2026' research document, are particularly striking:

 
   Percentage of US contact     2019   2020   2021   2022 (estimate) 
  centres with more than 50% 
  of agents working remotely 
                                10%    87%    89%          77% 
                               -----  -----  -----  ---------------- 
 

Before the pandemic only 10% of US contact centres had more than 50% of their agents working remotely. When the pandemic struck traditional contact centre facilities were either temporarily closed or had significant restrictions in terms of how their space could be used, which massively reduced agent capacity. This led to a huge shift to using remote agents, which peaked in 2021 with 89% of US contact centres having more than half their agents working from home. In 2022 the estimate is that this figure is still at 77%, and it is now expected to remain at these levels for the foreseeable future. Even those organisations who were very reluctant to use remote working have been forced to adapt.

Contact Centres have found that if they wish to retain staff - and they have been under acute pressure to do so - remote working is one way that can help. The convenience of working from home is popular with agents and it also enables extra flexibility by making it feasible for agents to work short shifts to cope with unexpected demand. However, what many organisations have either not fully appreciated or reacted to, is the inherent new security risk that comes from a remote working agent. In a managed facility it is far easier to try and control security using traditional methods such as clean desks, CCTV, desktop scanning, physical supervision, and so on. In a remote location it is largely impossible to replicate such an environment and this presents a significant challenge if the agent is handling customer data and especially payment data. This can only benefit Eckoh as our security proposition enables companies to effectively further reduce or remove the risk of data breaches arising from one of the most challenging parts of their businesses.

Furthermore, with the retention and recruitment challenges organisations are facing they will be looking even more acutely at their agents' utilisation and turning increasingly to technology to grow customer self-service, and to maximise first contact resolution levels and reduce the average handling time for each contact where customers need live assistance. Eckoh's new product portfolio, notably the real time transcription solution incorporating sentiment analysis and AI led agent assistance, will ensure that customers can be dealt with swiftly and effectively, without compromising their customer experience or the security of their data.

The current economic challenges will also lead to greater numbers of consumers becoming either unwilling or unable to pay off charges for services. Managing those customers and trying to collect their payments successfully and sensitively will require more innovative and effective use of technology, and Eckoh's security proposition has proven success and a demonstrable return on investment in this area.

Operational Review

North America (NA) Territory (44% of group revenues)

The North American territory continues to deliver strong growth. This is best demonstrated through the ARR(1) , which at the end of the first half was $13.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 71% (H1 FY22 $8.1 million) or from 31(st) March 2022, a 16% increase in the first six months of the year.

Revenue for the period was $10.6 million, an increase of 33% (H1 FY22: $7.9 million) and North America now accounts for a 44% share of Group revenue (H1 FY22: 42%). In FY24, we expect North American revenue will be of equal size to revenue from the UK and Ireland territory.

In the first half there has been, as anticipated, an increase in sales momentum, with new contracted business wins of $7.1 million. This is the highest half year level for three years and more than double the previous year (H1 FY22: $3.3 million). The combination of this new contracted business and the increasing number of contract renewals with existing clients has grown the total contracted business by 79% year on year to $9.8 million (H1 FY22 $5.5 million).

As we see more clients go through their first contract renewal, we will see the overall percentage of recurring revenue continue to increase, as at the point of renewal the hardware fees and implementation fees from the first contract are fully recognised. This is illustrated by the progress in recurring revenue, which has risen to 73% (H1 FY22: 64%), a 9% improvement, demonstrating both the successful renewals achieved in the year and the increased number of clients who deploy on our global cloud platform.

During the first half, we have successfully renewed a further six contracts, five of which were renewed for the first time and on similar terms, including the same length of contract as the initial contract term. One of the client renewals was renewed successfully for a third term. In the second half we have a further six clients expected to renew, two of which have already renewed in October. There was one client which did not renew because of a sale of the business. The successful renewals, the level of cloud deployments and the cross selling of additional product, will continue to increase our recurring revenue and gross profit.

The Company remains focused on winning new large enterprise contracts together with cross-selling the additional product introduced to the North America territory in the first half into new and existing clients. This is illustrated through the two large enterprise deals contracted in the period. The first was with a Fortune 100 retailer who purchased two product lines, the 3-year enterprise contract included a $1.4m fee for voice security to secure their phone agents and a $0.6m fee for digital payments to secure their live chat agents. Not only was this a multi-product contract it was also the first client to go-live on our new Azure cloud platform. The second new contract was the $1.3 million, 2-year contract with a leading, global hotel company, which will be deployed in the cloud and incorporate voice payment security, digital payments and advanced speech recognition. The implementation will cover more than 20 territories and an equivalent number of different speech recognition languages.

These two important contracts show the merit of Eckoh's longstanding strategy to pursue larger opportunities and the success of the plan to cross-sell from a broader product suite following the acquisition of Syntec in December 2021. These two contracts also show the continuing trend towards cloud adoption and more international mandates. The first contract is already live, showing the speed from contracting to deployment for cloud solutions and the second contract is due to go-live in the second half and in line with other cloud contracts will deliver higher levels of recurring revenue and margin.

An example of Eckoh's market leadership lies in our ability to offer our clients a choice of cloud platform, through which we will be able to deliver multiple SaaS solutions without any additional deployment effort. Alongside the development of our new product range one of our key strategic goals remains the expansion globally of our cloud platforms. There is no technical limitation now to this expansion, it will simply happen organically in line with the roll out of the many international contracts we have already won, and those we will win in the coming years.

While cloud deployment remains a key goal and advantage, we still expect that many of the largest enterprises, especially those in North America, will take many years to achieve that objective. Therefore, retaining the capability to deploy as required in a client's own data centres and environment and then migrate those accounts to a cloud solution, continues to give us a tactical advantage over our competitors. During the first half, we have seen two clients upgrade from on-site deployments to our cloud platform and as part of the renewal process, we have seen a further three clients who have contracted to also migrate.

In the period, Coral had revenue of $1.0 million (1H FY22: $0.9 million Coral & third-party Support). Coral is a browser-based agent desktop that increases efficiency by bringing all the contact centre agent's communication tools into a single screen. It also enables organisations, particularly those who have grown by acquisition, to standardise their contact centre facilities, as Coral can be implemented in environments that operate on entirely different underlying technology. Coral contracts remain small in number but high in value when they occur, with a very long sales cycle. This makes the timing of any new agreements hard to predict. There is a proof of concept about to commence with a large global financial services company, however, there is no certainty at this stage if this will lead to a contract.

UK & Ireland (UK & I) Territory, and Rest of World (ROW) Territory (56% of group revenues)

The UK & Ireland territory, along with the ROW territory accounts for 56% of revenues. The ROW whilst small is expected to grow quickly as the international contracts begin to be deployed, but for FY23 will be reported together with the UK & Ireland. The majority of the global deals, which drive the revenue and growth in Ireland and the ROW have been contracted through the UK Sales team.

Revenue increased significantly in the period to GBP10.9 million (H1 FY22 GBP9.0 million), up 22%.

UK clients are contracted through a range of commercial models that have evolved over time, unlike the newer North American business (including the acquired CardEasy activity), which operates entirely on fixed fee contracts. Where the commercial model is transactional, which is common, it is usual for a client to commit to a high percentage of its expected volumes and in so doing achieve the most competitive buying rate. The portion of a client's revenue that is not committed is generally repeatable, even as we saw in the pandemic, where the UK activity levels were very significantly impacted but the revenue impact was only around 10%. Within the UK ARR(1) metric, we have had to make an assumption on the revenue that is not contractually committed but is, and has been, repeatable. UK, Ireland and ROW ARR(1) at the end of the period was GBP16.4m an increase on last year of 32% and level with March 22. This is due to the timing of when new business has been contracted in the half.

Gross profit in the period was GBP8.9 million, an increase of 17% (H1 FY22: GBP7.6 million) and gross margin in the UK decreased in the period by 3% to 81% (H1 FY22: 84%), due principally to the integration of the Syntec UK & Ireland and ROW business.

Total contracted business was GBP9.7 million compared to GBP7.5 million in the prior year and new contracted business GBP2.5 million, level year on year. During the first half we successfully renewed our largest contract scheduled for this financial year, a 5-year contract through Capita for a large public service organisation, which was GBP2.1 million over the term. The next largest renewal scheduled for this year was the security service we provide through BT to Ministry of Justice for taking payments for fixed penalty notices and magistrates fines. This contract has also been renewed after the end of the period. Other important renewals that have already been completed during the period include Kingfisher, Target, PowerNI, Transport for London and Allied Irish Bank.

We continue to see global deals or international deals being won from the UK Sales team. In the period, following a competitive tender, we won a contract for voice security with the Irish division of one of the world's largest insurance companies. The deal is worth GBP0.6 million and it is expected that this will be one of the first clients to utilise the new enhanced cloud platform that has been developed through the "Syntegration" project. At the end of the period a further new UK contract also worth GBP0.6million was won with a financial services company to provide voice security for their debt collection service.

Looking at the segmentation of UK, Ireland and ROW revenue, 79% came from clients who take at least one of our security solutions. The remainder of the revenue is from clients who are taking other customer engagement services from us that do not involve security, such as IVR services. These are typically long-standing clients who we have serviced over many years.

Current Trading and Outlook

The first half performance reflects the continued progress of Eckoh's strategy to pursue major opportunities for large blue-chip organisations, cross-sell from a broader product suite and continue the trend towards cloud adoption and more international mandates. With this approach, coupled with an encouraging pipeline, a resilient business model of high recurring revenues, operational efficiencies, on-going cloud adoption and a robust balance sheet, the Board remains confident in delivering its expectations (7) and achieving material growth in FY23.

Financial Review

Following the acquisition of Syntec in December 2021, the integration of the business is progressing well and we are on track to meet full integration by the end of the financial year. The combined product together with increased activity coming from a global market means we will now be reporting on North America (NA), UK & Ireland (UK & I) and Rest of World (ROW) revenues.

Revenue

Revenue for the period increased by 33.0% to GBP19.6 million (H1 FY22: GBP14.7 million) and at constant exchange rates by 26%. Revenue in the UK & Ireland and ROW, which represent 56% (H1 FY22: 58%) of total group revenues, increased by 21.8% to GBP10.9 million (H1 FY22: GBP9.0 million).

North America revenue represented 44% (H1 FY22: 42%) of total group revenues and revenues increased in the period by 50.5% to GBP8.7 million (H1 FY22: GBP5.8 million), revenues in local currency increased by 33.0% year on year to $10.6 million (H1 FY22: $7.9 million).

Further explanations of movements in revenue between the North America, UK & Ireland and ROW territories have been addressed in the Operational Review above.

 
                  H1 FY23    H1 FY23    H1 FY23    H1 FY22   H1 FY22   H1 FY22 
                   (UK, I       (NA)      Total     (UK, I      (NA)     Total 
                   & ROW)                           & ROW) 
                   GBP000     GBP000     GBP000     GBP000    GBP000    GBP000 
--------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------  -------- 
 Revenue           10,925      8,665     19,590      8,972     5,758    14,730 
 Gross Profit       8,857      6,674     15,531      7,571     4,280    11,851 
 Gross margin         81%        77%        79%        84%       74%       81% 
--------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------  -------- 
 

The Group's gross profit increased to GBP15.5 million (H1 FY22: GBP14.7 million). Gross profit margin was 79% for the period, a decrease of 120 basis points year on year (H1 FY22: 81%). The UK & Ireland and ROW gross profit margin decreased by 3% to 81% due to the inclusion of the acquired Syntec business. In the North America territory, the margin in the period increased from 74% to 77%, increasing faster than previously indicated, due to the continued increase in Security Solutions being deployed in the cloud environment, the successful renewals in North America and the inclusion of the acquired Syntec business, which has a slightly higher gross profit margin than the underlying Eckoh business.

In the UK & Ireland and ROW territories, following the integration of the Syntec business and as the service is hosted on an Eckoh platform, there is typically no hardware provided to clients and the gross profit margin is expected to remain at approx. 81%. In the North America territory, we would expect the gross profit margin to continue to increase marginally from 77% to approx. 78% - 80% over the next two years. This is driven by the continued growth of the Security Solutions being deployed as cloud solutions coupled with clients renewing their contracts without additional significant hardware.

Administrative expenses

Total administrative expenses for the period were GBP12.6 million (H1 FY22: GBP9.4 million). Adjusted administrative expenses for the period were GBP11.3 million, an increase year on year of 25% (H1 FY22: GBP9.1 million). In the period we have continued to see the cost benefits from the prior year, the synergy benefits of the integration of Syntec ("Syntegration") offset by the effects of inflation in the remuneration of our employees. Restructuring costs in the period were nil (H1 FY22 GBP233k). Included in administrative expenses is a trading foreign currency gain of GBP0.7 million (H1 FY22: GBP44k loss).

Profitability Measures

Adjusted Operating profit(4) for the period was GBP4.2 million an increase of 52% on a total basis (H1 FY22: GBP2.8 million). Included in the first half profit for the current period was a foreign currency gain of GBP0.7 million (H1 FY22: GBP44k loss). Adjusted EBITDA(3) for the period was GBP5.0 million, an increase of 44% year on year (H1 FY22: GBP3.5 million).

 
                                            Six months                        Year 
                                                 ended      Six months       ended 
                                               30 Sept           ended    31 March 
                                                  2022    30 Sept 2021        2022 
                                               GBP'000         GBP'000     GBP'000 
-----------------------------------------  -----------  --------------  ---------- 
 Profit from operating activities                2,958           2,405       2,386 
 Amortisation of acquired intangible 
  assets                                         1,237              73         751 
 Expenses relating to share option 
  schemes                                          (6)              42         241 
 Restructuring costs                                 -             233         866 
 Costs relating to business combinations             -               -         985 
 Adjusted operating profit(4)                    4,189           2,753       4,749 
                                           -----------  --------------  ---------- 
 Amortisation of intangible assets                 195             184         392 
 Depreciation of owned assets                      354             329         675 
 Depreciation of leased assets                     289             230         498 
-----------------------------------------  -----------  --------------  ---------- 
 Adjusted EBITDA(3)                              5,027           3,496       6,794 
-----------------------------------------  -----------  --------------  ---------- 
 

Finance charges

For the financial period ended 30 September 2022, the net interest charge was GBP18k (H1 FY22: GBP22k). The interest charge is made up of bank interest receivable of GBP11k (H1 FY22: GBP3k) and interest on leased assets of GBP29k (H1 FY22: GBP25k).

Taxation

For the financial period ended 30 September 2022, there was a tax charge of GBP0.7 million (H1 FY22: GBP0.5 million), an effective tax rate of 23% (H1 FY22: 19%).

Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share was 0.77 pence per share (H1 FY22: 0.75 pence per share). Diluted earnings per share was 0.74 pence per share (H1 FY22: 0.73 pence per share). Adjusted diluted earnings per share was 1.06 pence per share (H1 FY22: 0.80 pence per share).

Client contracts

Client contracts are typically multi-year in length and have a high proportion of recurring revenues, usually underpinned by minimum commitments. With a greater proportion of contracts being delivered through the cloud, the initial set up fees and hardware costs associated with larger customer premise deployments will reduce. This will lead over time to an increase in operating margin. In the short-term this results in a reduction in the contract liabilities and a net cash outflow for working capital.

Contract liabilities and contract assets

Contract liabilities and contract assets relating to IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers continue to decrease, principally as new contracted business in North America has been predominantly for cloud-based solutions. Where clients contract for their services to be provided in the cloud or on our internal cloud platforms, the level of hardware is significantly reduced and implementation fees are typically lower. This reduces the level of upfront cash received but drives a greater level of revenue visibility and earnings quality. Total contract liabilities were GBP11.9 million (H1 FY22: GBP10.8 million) included in this balance are GBP8.6 million of contract liabilities relating to the Secure Payments product, hosted platform product or Syntec's CardEasy Secure Payments product, a decrease of GBP0.9 million from March 2022. Contract assets as at 30 September were GBP3.3 million compared to GBP3.8 million at March 2022 (H1 FY22: GBP3.9 million).

Cashflow and liquidity

Net cash at 30 September 2022 was GBP4.4 million, an increase of GBP1.6 million from the year end at 31 March 2022 and a decrease of GBP7.3 million to the previous year. The reduction in cash from last year reflects the completed acquisition of Syntec in December 2021, which was part funded from our cash reserves. The GBP1.6 million cash inflow from 31 March 2022 includes a net cash outflow for trade debtors, trade creditors, inventory and tax of GBP1.9 million (H1 FY22: cash outflow GBP1.8 million), in principle due to the unwinding of deferred revenue on the large enterprise on-premise solutions.

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

for the six months ended 30 September 2022

 
                                                  Six months 
                                                       ended   Six months 
                                                          30     ended 30   Year ended 
                                                   September    September     31 March 
                                                        2022         2021         2022 
                                                     GBP'000      GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Continuing operations 
 Revenue                                              19,590       14,730       31,780 
 Cost of sales                                       (4,059)      (2,879)      (6,357) 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Gross profit                                         15,531       11,851       25,423 
 Administrative expenses                            (12,573)      (9,446)     (23,037) 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Operating profit                                      2,958        2,405        2,386 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Adjusted operating profit                             4,189        2,752        5,229 
 Amortisation of acquired intangible 
  assets                                             (1,237)         (72)        (752) 
 Expenses relating to share option schemes                 6         (42)        (241) 
 Exceptional restructuring costs                           -        (233)        (866) 
 Costs relating to acquisition                             -            -        (985) 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Profit from operating activities                      2,958        2,405        2,386 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Finance charges                                        (29)         (25)         (74) 
 Finance income                                           11            3            6 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Profit before taxation                                2,940        2,383        2,311 
 Taxation                                              (682)        (461)        (743) 
                                                 ----------- 
 Profit for the period                                 2,258        1,922        1,575 
===============================================  ===========  ===========  =========== 
 
 Other comprehensive income/(expense) 
----------------------------------------------   -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Items that will be reclassified subsequently 
  to profit or loss: 
 Foreign currency translation differences 
  - foreign operations                                  (32)           56          139 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Other comprehensive (expense)/ income 
  for the period, net of income tax                     (32)           56          139 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Total comprehensive income for the 
  period attributable to the equity holders 
  of the Company                                       2,226        1,977        1,714 
===============================================  ===========  ===========  =========== 
 
 
 
 Profit per share expressed in pence 
----------------------------------------------   -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 Basic earnings per 0.25p share                         0.77         0.75         0.59 
 Diluted earnings per 0.25p share                       0.74         0.73         0.51 
-----------------------------------------------  -----------  -----------  ----------- 
 

Consolidated statement of financial position

as at 30 September 2022

 
                                   30 September   30 September   31 March 
                                           2022           2021       2022 
                                        GBP'000        GBP'000    GBP'000 
-------------------------------   -------------  -------------  --------- 
 Assets 
 Non-current assets 
 Intangible assets                       38,860          6,508     39,664 
 Property, plant and equipment            4,433          4,074      4,189 
 Right -of-use leased assets              1,282          1,086      1,516 
 Deferred tax asset                       1,535          2,761      1,789 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
                                         46,110         14,429     47,158 
 -------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 
 Current assets 
 Inventories                                295            218        268 
 Trade and other receivables             13,556         11,909     12,283 
 Cash and cash equivalents                4,358         12,672      2,840 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
                                         18,209         24,799     15,391 
 -------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 Total assets                            64,319         39,228     62,549 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 
 Liabilities 
 Current liabilities 
 Trade and other payables              (18,036)       (15,382)   (18,286) 
 Lease liabilities                        (609)          (516)      (609) 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
                                       (18,645)       (15,898)   (18,895) 
 -------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 
 Non-current liabilities 
 Lease liabilities                        (740)          (618)      (928) 
 Deferred tax liabilities               (3,014)          (302)    (2,983) 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
                                        (3,754)          (920)    (3,911) 
 -------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 
 Net assets                              41,920         22,410     39,743 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 
 Shareholders' equity 
 Called up share capital                    732            654        732 
 Share premium account                   22,180          2,663     22,180 
 Capital redemption reserve                 198            198        198 
 Merger reserve                           2,697          2,697      2,697 
 Currency reserve                         1,089          1,038      1,121 
 Retained earnings                       15,024         15,160     12,815 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 Total equity                            41,920         22,410     39,743 
--------------------------------  -------------  -------------  --------- 
 

Consolidated interim statement of changes in equity

as at 30 September 2022

 
                               Called                  Capital 
                             up share      Share    redemption     Merger   Currency    Retained   Total Shareholders' 
                              capital    premium       reserve    reserve    reserve    earnings                equity 
                              GBP'000    GBP'000       GBP'000    GBP'000    GBP'000     GBP'000               GBP'000 
 
 Balance at 1 April 2022          732     22,180           198      2,697      1,121      12,815                39,743 
 Total comprehensive 
 income 
 for the period 
 Profit for the period              -          -             -          -          -       2,258                 2,258 
 Other comprehensive 
  expense 
  for the period                    -          -             -          -       (32)           -                  (32) 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Contributions by and 
  distributions to owners                                                       (32)       2,258                 2,226 
 Shares transacted 
 through 
 Employee Benefit Trust             -          -             -          -          -           -                     - 
 Shares issued under the 
  share option scheme               -          -             -          -          -           -                     - 
 Shares purchased for 
  share 
  ownership plan                    -          -             -          -          -        (72)                  (72) 
 Share based payment 
  charge                            -          -             -          -          -          23                    23 
 Transactions with owners 
  recorded directly in 
  equity                            -          -             -          -          -        (49)                  (49) 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Balance as at 30 
  September 
  2022                            732     22,180           198      2,697      1,089      15,024                41,920 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 
 
                               Called                  Capital 
                             up share      Share    redemption     Merger   Currency    Retained   Total Shareholders' 
                              capital    premium       reserve    reserve    reserve    earnings                equity 
                              GBP'000    GBP'000       GBP'000    GBP'000    GBP'000     GBP'000               GBP'000 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Balance at 1 April 2021          638      2,663           198      2,697        982      13,239                20,417 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Total comprehensive 
 income 
 for the period 
 Profit for the period              -          -             -          -          -       1,922                 1,922 
 Other comprehensive 
  expense 
  for the period                    -          -             -          -         56           -                    56 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Contributions by and 
  distributions to owners           -          -             -          -          -       1,922                 1,970 
 Shares transacted 
  through 
  Employee Benefit Trust            -          -             -          -          -       (126)                 (126) 
 Shares issued under the 
  share option schemes             16          -             -          -          -           -                    16 
 Shares purchased for 
  share 
  ownership plan                    -          -             -          -          -        (72)                  (72) 
 Share based payment 
  charge                            -          -             -          -          -         197                   197 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Transactions with owners 
  recorded directly in 
  equity                            -          -             -          -         56        (37)                  (37) 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 Balance at 30 September 
  2021                            654      2,663           198      2,697      1,038      15,610                22,410 
-------------------------  ----------  ---------  ------------  ---------  ---------  ----------  -------------------- 
 

Consolidated statement of cash flows

for the six months ended 30 September 2022

 
                                                 Six months      Six months 
                                                      ended           ended   Year ended 
                                               30 September    30 September     31 March 
                                                       2022            2021         2022 
                                                    GBP'000         GBP'000      GBP'000 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Profit after taxation                                2,258           1,921        1,575 
 Interest income                                       (11)             (3)          (6) 
 Interest payable                                        29              25           74 
 Taxation                                               682             461          743 
 Depreciation of property, plant and 
  equipment                                             354             329          680 
 Depreciation of leased assets                          289             230          495 
 Amortisation of intangible assets                    1,432             256        1,143 
 Share based payments                                    26             197          241 
 Exchange differences                                 (719)               9         (95) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Operating profit before changes 
  in working capital and provisions                   4,340           3,425        4,850 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 (Increase)/ Decrease in inventories                   (27)            (44)          (5) 
 (Increase)/ Decrease in trade and 
  other receivables                                 (1,273)             568        2,423 
 (Decrease) in trade and other payables               (252)         (2,300)      (3,906) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Net cash generated from operating 
  activities                                          2,788           1,649        3,362 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Taxation (paid)/ received                            (335)               -           88 
 Interest paid                                            -             (1)         (23) 
 Interest paid on lease liability                      (29)            (24)         (51) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Net cash from continuing operating 
  activities                                          2,424           1,624        4,288 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 
 Cash flows from investing activities 
 Purchase of property, plant and equipment            (501)            (89)        (308) 
 Purchase of intangible fixed assets                  (164)           (187)        (375) 
 Business acquisition                                     -               -     (22,500) 
 Interest received                                       11               3            - 
 Net cash utilised in continuing investing 
  activities                                          (654)           (273)     (23,177) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 
 Cash flows from financing activities 
 Dividends paid                                           -               -      (1,559) 
 Repayment of borrowings                                  -           (975)        (975) 
 Principal elements of lease payments                 (188)           (209)        (500) 
 Purchase of own shares                                   -               -        (126) 
 Shares purchased for share ownership 
  plan                                                 (72)            (72)        (110) 
 Issue of shares net of issue costs                       -               -       13,311 
 Shares acquired by Employee Benefit 
  Trust                                                   -           (126)         (75) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Net cash utilised in continuing investing 
  activities                                          (260)         (1,366)        9,966 
 Increase / (decrease) in cash and 
  cash equivalents                                    1,510            (14)      (9,835) 
 Cash and cash equivalents at the 
  start of the period                                 2,840          12,706       12,706 
 Effect of exchange rate fluctuations 
  on cash held                                            8            (21)         (31) 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 Cash and cash equivalents at the 
  end of the period                                   4,358          12,671        2,840 
-------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ----------- 
 

Notes to the condensed consolidated interim financial statements

For the six months ended 30 September 2022

GENERAL INFORMATION

Eckoh plc is a public limited company and is incorporated and domiciled in the UK under the Companies Act 2006 (Company Registration number 03435822). The address of the Company's registered office is Telford House, Corner Hall, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9NH.

Eckoh plc is a global provider of Secure Payment products and Customer Contact solutions.

These condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 September 2022 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (together the "Group").

   1.    Basis of preparation 

These condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 September 2022 have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting as adopted for use in the UK. This report does not include all of the information required for full annual financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of the Group as at and for the year ended 31 March 2022, which have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101 "Reduced Disclosure Framework" and applicable law).

The unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial information for the period ended 30 September 2022 does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 March 2022 are extracted from the statutory financial statements which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies, on which the auditor gave an unqualified report, which made no statement under section 498(2) or (3) respectively of the Companies Act 2006 and did not draw attention to any matters of emphasis.

The preparation of interim financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expense. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

In preparing these condensed consolidated interim financial statements, the significant judgements made by management in applying the Group's accounting policies and the key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those that applied to the consolidated financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 March 2022.

In reporting financial information, the Group presents alternative performance measures ("APMs"). The Directors consider that disclosing alternative performance measures enhances Shareholders' ability to evaluate and analyse the underlying financial performance of the Group. They have identified adjusted operating profit and adjusted EBITDA as measures that enable the assessment of the performance of the Group and assists in financial, operational and commercial decision-making. In adjusting for these measures, the Directors have sought to eliminate those items of income and expenditure that do not specifically relate to the underlying operational performance of the Group in a specific year.

These condensed consolidated interim financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 22 November 2022.

The accounting policies adopted in these interim financial statements are consistent with those of the previous financial year and the corresponding interims period.

Going concern

The Directors have, at the time of approving the condensed consolidated interim financial statements, a reasonable expectation that the Company and the Group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

New standards and interpretations not yet adopted

Amended standards and interpretations not yet effective are not expected to have a significant impact on the Group's consolidated financial statements.

   2.    Dividends 

The proposed dividend of GBP2.0m for the year ended 31 March 2022 of 0.67p per share was paid on 21 October 2022.

   3.    Earnings per share 

The basic and diluted earnings per share are calculated on the following profit and number of shares. Earnings for the calculation of earnings per share is the net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent.

 
                                              Six months      Six months        Year 
                                                   ended           ended       ended 
                                            30 September    30 September    31 March 
                                                    2022            2021        2022 
                                                 GBP'000         GBP'000     GBP'000 
----------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 Earnings for the purposes of basic and 
  diluted earnings per share                       2,258           1,922       1,575 
----------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 Earnings for the purposes of adjusted 
  basic and diluted earnings per share             3,212           2,103       3,974 
----------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 

Reconciliation of earnings for the purposes of adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share

 
                                               H1 FY23   H1 FY22     FY 22 
                                               GBP'000   GBP'000   GBP'000 
--------------------------------------------  --------  --------  -------- 
 Earnings for the purposes of basic and 
  diluted earnings per share                     2,258     1,922     1,575 
 Taxation                                          682       461       743 
 Amortisation of acquired intangible assets      1,237        72       751 
 Expenses relating to share option schemes         (6)        42       241 
 Exceptional restructuring costs                     -       233       866 
 Costs relating to acquisition                       -         -       985 
--------------------------------------------  --------  --------  -------- 
 Adjusted profit before tax                      4,171     2,730     5,161 
 Tax charge based on standard corporation 
  tax rate of 23% (2022: 23%)                    (959)     (627)   (1,187) 
--------------------------------------------  --------  --------  -------- 
 Earnings for the purposes of adjusted 
  basic and diluted earnings per share           3,212     2,103     3,974 
--------------------------------------------  --------  --------  -------- 
 
 
                                                    Six months      Six months        Year 
                                                         ended           ended       ended 
                                                  30 September    30 September    31 March 
                                                          2022            2021        2022 
 Denominator                                              '000            '000        '000 
----------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 Weighted average number of shares in issue 
  in the period                                        292,893         255,500     265,968 
 Shares held by employee ownership plan                (2,062)         (1,908)     (2,028) 
----------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 Number of shares used in calculating basic 
  earnings per share                                   290,831         253,592     263,940 
 Dilutive effect of share options                       12,428           9,121      20,558 
 Dilutive effect of shares for acquisition 
  Dec 21                                                     -               -       7,889 
 Dilutive effect of placing Dec 21                           -               -      18,494 
----------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 Number of shares used in calculating diluted 
  earnings per share                                   303,259         262,713     262,915 
----------------------------------------------  --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
 
                                              H1 FY23   H1 FY22    FY22 
 Profit per share                               pence     Pence   Pence 
 Basic earnings per 0.25p share                  0.77      0.75    1.09 
 Diluted earnings per 0.25p share                0.74      0.73    1.06 
 Adjusted earnings per 0.25p share               1.10      0.82    1.49 
 Adjusted diluted earnings per 0.25p share       1.06      0.80    1.28 
 
   4.    Subsequent events to 30 September 2022 

As at the date of these statements there were no such events to report.

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November 23, 2022 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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