Maestrano Group warns on revenue as banking partner pulls out of platform

Banking integration platform provider Maestrano Group updated the market on its trading on Wednesday, following what it termed a “change in customer priorities”, reporting that it had recently completed delivery of its data visualisation and business intelligence platform as part of the first phase of a strategic project for a major US-based banking customer.

The AIM-traded firm said the platform had been marketed to a sample cohort of their business customers, with customer uptake rates in line with project expectations.

However, the bank had taken a decision to focus on other areas of its technology, and intended to close the business intelligence platform by 30 September.

New functionality would continue to be added by Maestrano over the months ahead, with further learning set to be achieved from user feedback.

The projected subscriber income from the platform formed the major part of Maestrano's revenue forecast, and as a result the change would have a “dramatic” negative impact on its revenue outlook.

Maestrano’s board said it intended to reengineer the business to focus on opportunities in the pipeline, adding that the company had adequate capital reserves to support that new business plan.

“I am proud of the product we have developed,” said chief executive officer Andrew Pearson.

“We will now focus on bringing forward new features from our roadmap, benefiting current customers and improving our sales proposition for future customers.

“We have two Australian clients going live with pilots during May and we continue to pursue opportunities with UK and eurozone banks, which we believe will lead to new contracts in due course.”

Ian Buddery, chairman, added that while the directors were “very disappointed” with the development, the firm had built a “strong” working relationship with the bank which could lead to future projects with them.

“We are also fortunate in having adequate capital reserves to support the business as we look ahead.

“We hope that shareholders will recognise our fundamental strengths and perceive the longer-term opportunities.

“Meanwhile we are seeing confirmation of our product strategy on a regular basis, as many banks express their intention to build digital customer engagement platforms.”