Arria NLG losses widen but hopes high for 'virtual financial adviser'

Half year revenue fell at Arria NLG due to a loss of a major contract but the company has since diversified and launched a new 'virtual financial adviser' product to help SME businesses that it hoped will boost the second half of the year.

Revenues in the six months to 31 March fell 75% to £226,000 following the loss of business from Shell last April, however total non-oil and gas revenues increased by 133% to £226,000.

Following the investment of a new product development strategy and the launch of Recount, the company’s first software as a service product, total costs excluding amortisation and share based payment charges rose by 19% from £2.8m in same period in 2015 to £2.8m.

Loss before tax more than tripled to £8.4m from the £2.7m last time.

Management hopes for Recount are high, with a launch in the coming weeks. Using Arria's natural language generation algorithms, the software provides small and medium sized business owners with a "full-time virtual financial adviser", taking business data from financial management systems and providing "insights, perspective and guidance via rich narratives that contain both written and graphical explanation".

As the company insists: "This is not just another robo-advisor: it's a sophisticated explanatory tool that communicates the meaning and significance of financial data in natural language."

There was £2.1m cash in the bank at the half year, with a further fundraising of £262,000 in the second half. The company is seeking further funds for working capital by either issuing equity or convertible debt and listing on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges.

Chairman and chief executive Stuart Rogers said the company has a “reasonable expectation” that it would have resources to continue operating, but should fundraising prove unsuccessful “there exists a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt over the ability of the Group to continue as a going concern.”

Rogers added: “The overall structure of Arria NLG's business today is far more robust than that of just two years ago. Within the last two years, Arria NLG has diversified its customer base, not only by industry, but by the type of companies we serve”.