Altitude surges on supply contract wins

Shares in Altitude surged over 30% after the technology service provider announced it had won two US supply agreements for an undisclosed sum.

The AIM-listed company will power New York-based Market Brands’ branded web stores for small businesses with its technology and fulfilled by its partner Aprinta, a provider of screen printing services.

Market Brands is aiming to recruit 100 new sales staff who will target the creation of tens of thousands of branded web stores for small businesses throughout the US. Altitude will be remunerated through a percentage of the sales value of every order.

The second contract will see Altitude supply print, signage and photo book products with a tier one manufacturer in the US.

Altitude said that this deal will give it access to the $100bn US print market and the manufacturer has a peak output of more than 100,000 orders per day, which is expected to “create substantial value” for the company and its resellers.

Altitude executive chairman Peter Hallett said: "Our strategy is to create a compelling offering for promotional product distributors to enable them to create online brand stores for every customer. The agreement with Market Brands will accelerate our ability to engage with the SMEs who are the end users of the products that pass through our network.

"The addition of print products is a natural extension to the promotional product offering and increases our addressable potential market four-fold without the need for substantial technology development or investment.”

The company’s 2016 results will be published around 8 May.

Shares in Altitude were up 31.58% to 78.95p at 1009 BST.