Big Sofa pleased with progress through AIM admission
Big Sofa Technologies Group
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15:49 28/04/20
Video analytics provider Big Sofa Technologies Group announced its final results for the year to 31 December on Wednesday - a period during which the board said it was “constrained” by limited cash resources prior to its admission to the AIM market in December 2016.
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That admission came with an associated fundraising of £6.1m, which the board said had enabled the company to accelerate growth.
Big Sofa said the key benefits of the admission included its expansion of US operations to target a “large market opportunity”, as well as the acceleration of near-term growth opportunities with key customers to develop a “significant” new business pipeline.
The admission also strengthened management's ability to recruit, retain and incentivise employees, the board claimed, and provided currency for selective bolt-on acquisitions.
On the financial front, revenues grew to £0.76m from £0.17m in 2016, with average monthly revenue approximately double the levels seen in 2015.
Gross profit was up to £0.38m from £0.01m, although the company’s gross margin slipped to 50% from 56%.
Its operating loss widened to £4.3m from £0.35m.
“The year culminated in our listing on AIM and the fundraising that enabled us to accelerate the commercialisation of our technology and the development of a material pipeline of business,” said chief executive Simon Lidington.
“With an even stronger foundation of blue-chip customers to build-upon, I am pleased to say that we are making excellent progress against our strategic objectives and signs of this are beginning to be reflected in current trading.”
Lidington said the board and management team believed that the outlook for Big Sofa was “extremely positive”, and anticipated that existing partnerships with P&G, Unilever, Ipsos, SC Johnson and SSI would deliver material revenue during the current financial year.
“Big Sofa is exceptionally well-placed to capitalise on the vast opportunity that exists to help consumer brands and research agencies make genuine use of the large quantities of video content they are generating.
“We have received significant industry validation in a short space of time, as reflected in the three-year Master Service Agreement with Ipsos, a global partnership with P&G, a continuing global partnership with Unilever and the numerous relationships developing with new global clients.
“I look forward to reporting on further milestones as we work to build a profitable business of scale.”