AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- The British finance ministry increased the property tax threshold to £500,000 to provide concession to home buyers. The decision will exempt most home buyers from paying stamp duty for a home purchase.
- The UK government announced that it would invest close to £1.6 billion in the cultural sector. Theatres, opera houses and ballet companies are a few beneficiaries from this package.
- The British prime minister Boris Johnson will set the guidelines for reopening of the remaining sectors after restaurants and bars opened from 4 July 2020.
We will review two FTSE AIM All-Share listed technology stocks - Bango PLC (LON:BGO) and MelodyVR Group PLC (LON:MVR). As on 6 July 2020, before the market close at 3.30 PM GMT+1, the shares of Bango were down by 2.94 percent, whereas shares of MelodyVR surged by 2.91 percent against the previous day closing price. Let’s discuss their financial and operation updates.
Bango PLC (LON:BGO): End-user spending doubled in FY19
Bango PLC (BGO) is a UK based digital company, which provides payments business process and data business platform. The payments business platform generates revenue from any payment made through the Bango payment platform. The data platform charges a fee for data used by the advertisers and merchants.
Annual results for FY2019 (ended 31 December 2019) as released on 17 March 2020
The revenue increased by 41 percent to £9.3 million. The end-user spend (EUS), which is the total value of transaction done on the platform, almost doubled from £0.6 billion in FY18 to £1.1 billion in FY19. The payment revenue increased by 36 percent to £7.16 million, whereas data monetization revenue increased by 57 percent to £2.15 million, respectively.
The Company had a cash balance of £2.69 million and net assets of £14.7 million. The Company invested in new data business streams and reinvested in the data business.
Recent Updates
- On 15 June 2020, Bango enabled carrier billing option for Amazon.co.jp on SoftBank mobile phone account. The Company now provides carrier billing option for Amazon in Japan for three mobile companies including SoftBank, NTT Docomo and KDDI. The carrier billing option helps customers to do immediate shopping without entering the card details.
- On 14 May 2020, Bango signed a platform agreement deal with a leading telecom operator. The agreement is for three years for £1.5 million with an opportunity for additional earnings. The Company platform will be used by the telecom operator to sell third-party products and services to the customers.
Drivers of growth
(Source: Company Website)
Share Price Performance
1-Year Chart as at July-6-2020, before the market close (Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
Bango PLC’s shares were down by 1.17 percent and trading at GBX 179.38 per share (as on 6 July 2020, before the market close at 1.18 PM GMT+1). Stock 52-week High and Low were GBX 194.00 and GBX 59.00, respectively. The Group had a market capitalization of £135.03 million.
Business Outlook
The Company expects revenue to increase in FY2020 following the growth in EUS. It will focus on opportunities in existing and new business activities. The payment business is expected to grow significantly backed by the deployment of Bango Boost technology in 2020 and previous investments made in technology. Bango will seek an opportunity to partner with large retailers other than telecom companies to sell payment services. The marketplace is also expected to perform well based on the increasing popularity among the app developers.
MelodyVR Group PLC (LON:MVR) – Partnership is a Crucial Strategy for the Group.
MelodyVR Group PLC is a UK based entertainment provider in virtual reality. The Group partners with major record labels, publishers, artists, venues and festivals. It has an extensive library of original Virtual Reality content. The Group launched MelodyVR mobile app in July 2019 and has close to 150,000 new downloads with an average user engagement time of more than 28 minutes in a single session. The app can be downloaded on iOs, android smartphones and virtual reality devices.
Annual results for FY2019 (ended 31 December 2019) as released on 30 June 2020
The Group reported revenue of £0.2 million which was down from £1.2 million in FY18; content sales and content licensing generated revenue of £36,711 and £158,259, respectively. The UK region added £167,614 to the Group revenue, whereas the US, Rest of the Europe and Rest of the world added £22,849, £2,452 and £2,056, respectively.
The gross loss widened to £1.6 million from £0.2 million a year ago. The Group reported a net loss of £15.0 million. The gross assets were down to £6.7 million from £19.3 million in FY18. The net asset value per share was 0.9 pence; it was 1.7 pence in FY18.
As on 31 December 2019, MelodyVR had a cash balance of £6.8 million. Given the economic uncertainty and to scale business, in March 2020 the Group raised $12.0 million which translates to £10.3 million through an issue of new shares for the US investors. The new shares were issued at a price of 3.75 pence per share. On 14 April 2020, the Group onboarded Grant Dollens as Non-executive Director of the Board.
Event Highlights
- On 22 May 2020, the Group changed the name EVR Holdings PLC to MelodyVR Group PLC.
- On 21 May 2020, the Group partnered with the Festival Republic, a division of Live Nation, for Wireless Connect, a virtual music festival.
- On 15 May 2020, the Group launched a live music series in Los Angeles named Live from LA.
Group Revenue in FY19
(Source: Company Website)
Share Price Performance
1-Year Chart as at July-6-2020, before the market close (Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
MelodyVR Group PLC’s shares were up by 6.22 percent and trading at GBX 4.57 per share (as on 6 July 2020, before the market close at 1.45 PM GMT+1). Stock 52-week High and Low were GBX 9.13 and GBX 2.02, respectively. The Group had a market capitalization of £73.95 million.
Business Outlook
The Group is into virtual reality content business, which is a new and emerging market; and thus, believes it is difficult to evaluate the future. MelodyVR will enhance the product and content library by frequent streaming of live events from event venues and owned studios. The broadcasting of activities will help to monetize the user base and build on new partnerships. The insufficient licensing of the content on the platform is a key risk for the Group.
