TIDMVNET
RNS Number : 0952E
Vianet Group PLC
26 October 2022
Final
26 October 2022
Vianet Group plc
("Vianet" or the "Group")
Trading Update and Notice of Results
Vianet Group plc (AIM: VNET), the international provider of
actionable data and business insight through devices connected to
its Internet of Things platform ("IOT"), today announces the
following trading update and notifies that it will release its
results for the six months ended 30 September 2022 on Tuesday, 6
December 2022.
About Us and What We Do
Vianet is an international provider of internet-enabled,
cloud-based, telemetric services to the hospitality, unattended
retail vending and remote asset management sectors. We enable
customers to maximise the conversion of inventory and services into
sales, cash, and profit growth.
The Group's Smart Zones division provides product quality, waste
management, business intelligence and inventory management services
to the on-premise drinks retailing industry.
Our Smart Machines division provides innovative real-time
monitoring, software management applications, contactless payment
systems, business intelligence and data insights for unattended
vending machines that significantly improve operational efficiency,
inventory control, sales, and cash flow whilst reducing our
customers' carbon footprint.
Market Developments
The positive momentum in our Smart Zones division in FY2022, as
COVID-19 restrictions eased, has continued through H1 2023. The
Group's hospitality sector customers are now fully operational on
100% billing, and this has resulted in a strong rebound in
year-on-year revenues.
UK-wide hospitality staff shortages, supply chain pressures and
the current high cost of living mean that conditions remain
challenging for operators. This has, however, led to an increased
demand for our data and analysis as the requirement for operators
to have a detailed understanding of actual trading at the outlet
level is particularly acute during challenging times.
In the Smart Machines division, the team continue to win new
contracts and build the Group's order pipeline. Continued demand
for our end-to-end vending management solution and cashless vending
solutions has resulted in a footprint of 52,490 vending connections
in H1 2023, up almost 24% on H1 2022.
Financial and Operational Update
Trading in H1 2023 produced a substantial turn-around against
last year with c 48% growth in EBITA to GBP1.21m (H1 2022:
GBP0.81m)
-- H1 2023 revenue of GBP7.18m, an uplift of 13.3% year on year (H1 2022: GBP6.34m)
-- Recurring revenue increased to 86% (H1 2022: 83%)
-- Gross Margin remains strong at 64%
-- PBT was a GBP106k loss (H1 2022: loss GBP363k) following the
final write-down of GBP178k relating to the Vendman
acquisition.
The improved results were primarily driven by revenue growth of
14.5% in Smart Machines and 12.4% in Smart Zones, with a recovery
in activity levels in the Company's major end-user markets
gathering momentum. We are confident that our sales will continue
to grow and that we will return to pre-pandemic monthly run rates
in FY2023.
Despite pressure on global semi-conductor supply chains,
management action has resulted in no material impact on delivery
schedules; however, certain component costs have increased
significantly, and this is expected to continue into FY2024. Our
overriding commercial imperative is to keep the sales pipeline
flowing to grow the installation footprint and corresponding
recurring income, and we actively seek to recoup additional costs
wherever terms allow.
Stable gross margins in H1 2023 reflect the focus on extending
our installation footprint to drive recurring income and develop a
valuable data lake which we are beginning to monetise.
The Board expects further improved results and sales growth in
H2 2023. A significant new product release is scheduled for
November and will establish SmartVend as the industry-leading
vending management software platform.
The Group's cash generation continues to improve, although the
deterioration of semi-conductor supply chain globally will result
in component premiums through FY2023. As such, for now, the Board
believes it is prudent to preserve cash to invest in stock to
underpin new sales and drive continued growth in quality recurring
revenues. We hope to have a clear line of sight on a more normal
level of semiconductor supply ahead of our FY results announcement
at which time the Board will review its aspiration to resume
payment of a full year dividend.
James Dickson, Chairman & CEO of Vianet, commented:
" A strong team performance has meant we could deliver our goals
for this period despite increasing supply chain and market
challenges.
Against this difficult economic backdrop, I am pleased that
half-year sales recovered to over 85 per cent. of pre-pandemic
levels, with good momentum into the second half.
Component supply chain pressures are likely to have some impact
on hardware margins into FY2024 and whilst we cannot escape the
impact of that, the whole team is working hard to mitigate any such
impact. Importantly, we have an exciting sales pipeline and the
opportunity to significantly grow our high-quality recurring income
streams. We are in good shape to move forward and deliver further
improved results in the second half of this financial year and
beyond."
- Ends -
This announcement contains inside information.
Enquiries:
Vianet Group plc
James Dickson, Chairman & CEO Tel: +44 (0) 1642 358
Mark Foster, CFO 800
www.vianetplc.com
Cenkos Securities plc
Stephen Keys / Camilla Hume Tel: +44 (0) 20 7397
8900
www.cenkos.com
Investor enquiries:
Dale Bellis Tel: +44 (0) 20 7397
8900
About Vianet
Vianet Group is a leading provider of actionable management
information and business insight created through combining data
from our Internet of Things ('IOT') solutions and external
information sources.
Since its Admission to AIM in 2006, the Group has grown from its
core beer monitoring business both organically and through
strategic acquisitions to widen its offering and develop new
businesses, especially in vending telemetry and contactless payment
solutions particularly for the premium coffee sector.
Servicing over 300 customers across the world and rendering live
data to our IOT platform from over 250,000 connected machines
daily, Vianet is one of the largest business to business (b2b)
connected solutions providers in Europe with established long-term
relationships with blue chip customers and growing recurring
revenues which are over 85% of our total revenues.
In our Smart Machines division, we connect a single data
gathering device with its own on-board communication capability to
a customer's asset or system. The device then sends data back via
our IOT platform to cloud based servers. The technology was
originally developed for automated retailing machines; however, the
flexibility and functionality of the device means the technology
can be applied to any machine which has the capability to output
data. The device is also used to connect our contactless payment
solution and communicate payment terms to our cloud-based payment
services providers where that application is also required.
The Smart Zones division is where we connect multiple data
gathering devices into one or more systems or assets with the data
from those devices being communicated back to our IOT platform and
cloud-based servers via a single 4G communications hub. The
technology was originally developed for flow monitoring devices,
temperature sensors, and asset management in drinks retailing but
any data gathering device with a digital output could be connected
to the communications hub where required such as gaming machines,
utilities management and POS.
For further information, please visit www.vianetplc.com
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END
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