Bango makes dent in losses as end user spend doubles

Bango's losses persisted last year even though revenue increased thanks to a doubling of spending by end users of its carrier billing technology.

The AIM-quoted mobile commerce company generated revenue of £6.6m for 2018, an increase of 59% compared to the year before, as Bango oversaw end user spend increase 106% to £558.2m.

However, this was largely offset by a 16% increase in administrative expenses to £9.3m and cost of sales jumping from £2,439 to £0.8m. Consequently, Bango's loss before tax was only dented 9% to £3.6m.

Ray Anderson, chief executive, said: "The increasing value of Bango in mobile commerce, demonstrated by triple-digit growth in EUS, was accomplished on a stable cost-base with increased transaction processing capacity. This demonstrates the power of the Bango Platform."

Revenue from the UK and Germany, which together accounted for 53% of total revenue, increased by 23%, while Scandinavian revenues dropped by 6% amid unfavourable foreign currency krona shifts.

Bango had cash of £3.8m at the end of the year, down from £4.8m at the same point the year before.

In the current year, directors aim to focus on once again doubling end user spend as well as gaining new revenue from the $50bn of global spending by app developers on app marketing by offering access to audiences through its Bango Marketplace.

"App developers, app stores, merchants and payment providers are crossing the threshold into the Bango ecosystem to collaborate, grow and thrive. More mobile commerce throughout the Bango platform will deliver value from both the established payment platform and also from the unique ability to securely and safely monetize anonymized payment data. This is the opportunity that Bango will focus on during 2019," said Anderson.

Bango's shares were down 7.61% at 91.00p at 1018 GMT.