Positive momentum continues at Frontier Smart Tech

Digital radio and smart audio device pioneer Frontier Smart Technologies Group updated the market on its trading on Friday, saying it had continued to build on the momentum it achieved in the second half of 2016, with first half revenues “significantly ahead” of last year.

The AIM-traded firm said, taking a prudent view of second half trading across the group, the board now anticipated full year EBITDA profit to be “materially ahead” of expectations.

Its established digital radio and smart radio business lines were said to both be performing well.

Digital radio was benefiting from strong underlying growth in continental Europe, boosted by the switching-off of analogue radio in Norway.

First half sales also received an uplift from the forthcoming introduction of the EU RED Directive in July 2017, which encouraged customers to bring forward orders.

Smart radio was ahead of expectations due to better-than-expected growth in Germany.

The board said margins in both digital radio and smart radio were also ahead of plan.

In smart audio, the group recently announced several design wins for speakers using Google's Chromecast built-in technology.

Trading in smart audio was currently broadly in line with expectations, but it would be early in the second half before the full-year performance of this business line would be known.

“The performance of our digital radio and smart radio businesses in the opening months of the year has been encouraging and reflects our market leadership in both sectors,” said CEO Anthony Sethill.

“Our smart audio business is still at an early stage of development, but our recently announced design wins provide grounds for confidence.”