AIM newcomer Boku sees growth across the board

Independent direct carrier billing company Boku issued an unaudited trading update for the year to 31 December on Tuesday - its first since admission to AIM in November.

The AIM-traded firm said it saw continued growth in all key metrics during 2017, with revenue for the full year expected to be in the range $24mto $24.5m - an increase of approximately 40% over 2016’s figure of $17.2m.

It said adjusted EBITDA was expected to be positive for the second half of 2017, which the board described as a “major milestone” for the company.

Total processed value of $1.7bn for 2017 was more than triple the 2016 amount of $554m, the company reported, which it put down to continued growth across all customer segments - most notably app stores, and digital music subscriptions and bundling.

Monthly active users of the Boku platform exceeded eight million in December, which was a 140% increase over the same period in 2016.

The board said that demonstrated that Boku was continuing to provide an effective way for digital merchants and platforms to acquire new paying customers.

Boku held approximately $20m in cash at the end of the year.

“2017 was a pivotal year for Boku,” said CEO Jon Prideaux.

“By tripling our total processed value, increasing our revenue by 40% and having positive adjusted EBITDA for the entire second half we have helped our customers to acquire millions of extra paying users and laid the foundations for further growth.

“2017 also encompassed our successful Admission to AIM, which has enabled us to accelerate our growth plans.”

Prideaux said the company was seeing the benefits of scale playing through, explaining that by processing more volume, Boku could both have a lower unit cost and support a cost base that allowed it to deliver a wider array of products and services to customers.

“We remain focused on growth,” he added.

“We will roll out our existing customers and products into new territories and develop new services, leveraging our core carrier integration capabilities, in the areas of location, authentication and identity.”