Starcom shares bounce as revenue jumps 14% but loss widens

Starcom PLC (LON:STAR) have seen their shares bounce on Monday following a steady set of final results.

The firm did note that its’ loss had widened across 2019, however shareholders can expect growth across the year.

Shares in Starcom trade at 1p (+5.05%). 2/3/20 11:16BST.

The media company told the market that it had seen a pretax loss of $1 million across 2019, compared to the $831,000 figure one year ago.

Starcom alluded this wider loss to rising operating expenses, as these costs rose to $3.5 million fro $3.3 million. These costs rose due to non-cash expenses including depreciation and share option provisions.

On a better note, Starcom saw revenues surge 14% to $6.8 million from $6 million year-on-year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation totalled $300,000 compared to $8,000 Ebitda loss a year ago.

Avi Hartmann, CEO of Starcom, commented, “I am pleased to report another year of progress for the Company, moving into EDITBA positive for the first time, which we believe is a turning point and a clear indication of the Company’s future performance.

“Based on our existing range of products, mature technology, global client base, recurring SaaS revenues and substantial sales pipeline, the Company anticipates continued growth in 2020. We further anticipate higher margins in the future as our product mix migrates more towards the IoT sector. One of the key focuses of 2020 is to expand our sales and marketing team to take advantage of the opportunities before us, whilst ensuring we maintain our competitive edge through continued R&D.”

Going forward the firm said that it is looking to migrate towards the he higher margin IoT products, gross margin should continue to improve.

The Chairman concluded:

“Based on the existing range of products, mature technology, global client base, recurring SaaS revenues and substantial sales pipeline, the Company anticipates continued growth in 2020. The Board also anticipates that as the product mix continues to migrate towards the higher margin IoT products, gross margin should continue to improve.

The innovative Lokies is expected to be one of the key growth engines for the Company in 2020. The agreement and the purchasing plan provided by the Russian distributer signed up in 2019 underpins this assessment. Also encouraging is the three-year OEM contract recently signed with Cubemonk for the incorporation of our Kylos Air unit into their product.

Zero is progressing with its own sales of the Starcom-inside motorbikes which may have an impact on other similar manufacturers. The Board is therefore optimistic about the prospects for the Company in 2020, particularly the opportunities presented from its relationships with Cubemonk, CropX and WIMC, as well as its North African distributor.

We plan to expand our sales and marketing team to strengthen our ability to take advantage of the opportunities we now see as well as continuing to focus on R&D to maintain and improve our competitive edge.”

Starcom agree deal with CubeMonk

A few weeks back, Starcom told the market that they had signed a three year supply and support agreement with US shipping serviced provider CubeMonk Inc.

The wireless solutions and technology firm said that the agreement would allow the supply and support of Kylos Air technology units.

The Kylos Air technology will be used as part of CubeMonk’s tracking service for air containers.

Starcom expressed that they had been working with CubeMonk over the last year to implement Kylos Air technology for shipping solutions.

The firm noted that the trial had been successfully completed, and had produced pleasing results – adding that it had seen “very positive feedback from the end users in the trial.”

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