TIDMTOOP
RNS Number : 3678A
Toople PLC
29 September 2020
Strictly embargoed until: 07.00, 29 September 2020
Toople PLC
("Toople" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Update on Trading, Directorate Change and launch of New Investor
Website
GBP1.6 million of Annualised Savings
Toople PLC (LSE: TOOP), a provider of bespoke telecom services
to UK SMEs, is pleased to provide the following market update.
Trading and cost savings
Following the acquisition of DMSL earlier this year the
management team undertook a review of the entire business and
implemented a plan to restructure and reorganise the Group into
four main brands: www.toople.com ; www.dmsluk.co.uk ;
broadbandandphones.co.uk ; and www.checkthatcompany.co.uk . As part
of this review, a number of initiatives were put in place to
deliver cost savings and synergies to deliver in excess of
GBP600,000 per annum. The Board subsequently updated shareholders
that cost savings and synergies would deliver over GBP960,000 per
annum. These have now been achieved.
The Company is pleased to confirm the integration and review of
the combined group is now complete and the outcome of this activity
has delivered an upgraded GBP1.6m of annualised synergies and
savings, expected to be delivered from 1 October 2020.
This is expected to transform the company's cash position over
time as DMSL in particular has a history of being cash generative,
considerably accelerating the Company's anticipated timeline to
achieve profitability and positive cash generation. In the short
term, investors should expect a decline in headline revenues as the
Company moves to focus on margin enhancing customers and seeks to
transform its cash position over the course of the coming twelve
months. The Group looks forward to updating shareholders in greater
detail on these achievements in its Final Results for the year
ended September 2020, expected to be announced during December
2020.
Overall, the wider trading environment remains somewhat subdued
for the moment, as it does for most businesses dealing with the
economic effects of Covid-19. The Board continues to monitor
developments and will respond accordingly, as the Government
introduces new measures relating to Covid-19. Despite this, the
Group and its various brands continue to perform satisfactorily and
trading in August 2020 returned to more normal conditions in the
B2B market as more businesses emerged from lockdown and reviewed
critical expenditure such as for IT and telecoms. Trading within
the DMSL business demonstrated a 14% growth on orders on a like for
like basis against August 2019 and September has also seen growth
in order volumes compared with September 2019.
The macro drivers which are expected to precipitate substantial
growth for the Group also remain in place, namely: HM Government's
commitment to the rolling out of fibre telecommunication
infrastructure to replace copper and the necessary and ultimately
unavoidable upgrade of the country's network from 4G to 5G. The
Board remains optimistic about the Company's future prospects.
Board Change
The Company also announces today that Kevin Lawrence, who has
been acting as interim part time CFO, will now become a
Non-Executive Director of the Company from 1(st) October 2020.
Kevin will chair the audit and remuneration committees. Paul White,
Toople's Financial Controller, who has been with the Company since
June 2020 will take over as Company CFO and will commence the new
role on 1(st) October 2020. Paul, has been shadowing Kevin for the
last three months and has an excellent knowledge of the Group's
operating subsidiaries, financial processes and systems.
New PLC website
Following the reorganisation of the business, Toople has
extended its offering and to reflect these changes and to improve
communications for all investors the Group has recently launched a
new investor website, which can be found at
https://toople.com/investors-site/ . We would encourage investors
to pay it a visit.
Andy Hollingworth, CEO commented:
"Our initial guidance was that the acquisition of DMSL would
deliver GBP50,000 a month of synergy and cost savings as a combined
group, we are therefore delighted with the results of the
integration and other initiatives delivering over GBP130,000 per
month. The business is steadily moving forward and remains
excellently placed for rapid expansion as the UK's
telecommunication infrastructure is upgraded.
"Another key driver for Toople is the move towards at home
working by small businesses and their employees. Despite the
outbreak of Covid-19 and the resultant decrease in economic
activity, the conditions in which Toople is set to thrive remains
unaffected - and in some ways the outlook is even more positive as
many people make a more permanent switch to working from home and
need reliable telecommunications infrastructure. Indeed, even now
the Government is tightening restrictions regarding Covid-19 and
whilst this remains a challenging time for our country and many the
wider business community, working from home is a key strategy that
all our products and propositions support. We remain vigilant and
cautious of the wider economic impact of Covid-19 while also
keeping abreast of the new telecommunications possibilities that
will exist in a post Covid-19 world."
Commenting on the appointment of Paul White as Group CFO,
Richard Horsman, Chairman said:
"Kevin has played an instrumental role in implementing our plan
to develop new revenue streams, both organically and acquisitively,
and we are extremely grateful for his continued contributions.
Kevin has a wealth of skills and practical knowledge relevant to
scaling businesses. He has proven these skills in his role as CFO
of Toople and we look forward to his continued guidance and advice
in his new role as Non-Executive Director of the Company. His
excellent execution capability in acquisitions and understanding of
the plc environment will continue to prove invaluable.
"It is very important that we appoint a new full time CFO that
has complementary skills, market knowledge and proven experience in
our line of work and our strategy. Our current Financial
Controller, Paul White, is that person and it is a major advantage
that he already knows the business intimately. We are extremely
pleased to announce that he will be the next CFO of Toople as he
knows and shares our vision and ambition."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For further information :
Toople PLC Tel: 0800 0499 499
Andy Hollingworth, Chief Executive
Officer
Kevin Lawrence, Chief Financial
Officer
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP Tel: 020 7213 0880
Sandy Jamieson / Ludovico Lazzaretti
Novum Securities Limited Tel: 020 7399 9400
David Coffman
Belvedere Communications Tel: 020 3687 2756
John West / Llew Angus
About Toople PLC
Toople PLC is incorporated in the UK and listed on the main
market of the London Stock Exchange.
The business currently trades under four main brands:
www.toople.com ; www.dmsluk.co.uk ; broadbandandphones.co.uk ;
www.checkthatcompany.co.uk .
Toople.com provides bespoke telecoms services for its fast
growing target market of UK SMEs with between one and 50 employees.
Services offered by the Group include business broadband, fibre,
EFM and Ethernet data services, business mobile phones, cloud PBX
and SIP Trunking and Traditional Services (calls and lines) all of
which are delivered and managed via the Group's proprietary
software platform.
In February 2020, Toople completed the acquisition of DMS
Holding (DMSL) . DMSL commenced trading in 2002 and provides
unified communication services in the UK, ranging from a single
phone line to a multi-site unified comms VoIP platform, delivered
via a network of telecoms and IT carriers and content providers
across the UK including BT Business, BT Global Services, Gamma, EE,
Vonage, Talktalk Business and O2.
DMSL acts as a BT Premier re-seller for broadband connectivity,
mobile and fixed voice and cloud services and is responsible for
over 250,000 BT customers and over 400,000 Revenue Generating
Units.
The acquisition of DMSL was transformational for Toople, as it
also expanded the Group's reach into the UK residential market,
which is experiencing a period of rapid change, as operational
automation further develops and more people choose to (or are
forced to) work from home.
The Company also owns a telecoms price comparison website and a
service offering company credit reference checking and reports.
These complement the Group's IT and telecoms services.
All the Group brands seek to differentiate themselves by
offering IT, telecoms and broadband solutions, with robust and
reliable packages, that enhance a customers' business and are based
on trust and transparency, with no hidden fees within pricing
policies. This provides customers with a clear understanding of
cost and fixed prices for the duration of their contracts.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTFZGZLGRMGGZZ
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 29, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Toople (LSE:TOOP)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2024 a Abr 2024
Toople (LSE:TOOP)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2023 a Abr 2024
