Mobile Streams full-year profit hit by devaluation of peso

Mobile Streams disappointed with its final results on Friday, which were affected by the devaluation of the Argentinian peso and weaker sales from both its mobile internet and mobile operations divisions.

The mobile content distributor posted pre-tax profit of £0.2m, down from £4.8m in 2013, on revenue of £48.6m, which declined from £53.9m a year earlier.

While the cost of sales dropped £2.1m, sales and marketing costs rose £0.1m and admin expenses increased by £1m. Foreign exchanges losses totalled £1m.

During the period, the group continued with its strategy of diversifying its revenues into new markets beyond Argentina, but said the investment required for this during the rest of the year would be reflected in reduced short term profitability.

The company's founder and chief executive, Simon Buckingham, said: "Mobile Streams had another solid year of revenues, most notably from Latin America. However, this progress was severely impacted by the devaluation of the Argentinian Peso, from where we derive the majority of our revenue.

"We continued to work to further scale our mobile internet services in new markets, in particular in Brazil and Mexico, to supplement our longer established operations in Argentina and Colombia.

Looking ahead, the group said it was positive about its future prospects and saw opportunities for long-term growth, particularly in emerging markets across Latin America, Africa, India and Asia.

Shares had fallen 9% to 13.65p in early trade.