Induction Healthcare’s renewed contract with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government ensures a consistent revenue stream of £2m through Induction Attend Anywhere, a remote consultation tool.

Induction Attend Anywhere (AA), the remote consultation solution has successfully obtained another year with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government. 

With the contract extension, AA secures its position with NHS Scotland as the preferred remote consultation platform.

The contract between AA and NHS Scotland will generate £2m in revenue for Induction Healthcare.

Induction Healthcare aims to provide a platform for virtual patient care to help the healthcare systems digitalise all over the world.

Induction’s newly introduced clinical group consultations, where one-on-one consultations take place in a group environment of patients with comparable clinical issues, will be included in the renewed contract.

The Scottish Government extended their contract with Induction Healthcare to continue the delivery of remote consultations for the non-health public sector support.

The virtual consultations are meant to aid Scotland’s social security system with the possible opportunity of more contracts in the future.

The Department of Work and Pension decided to incorporate Induction Attend Anywhere for two years to enable the digital transformation of the UK benefits system in November 2021.

Induction Attend Anywhere

Attend Anywhere is a video consultation service, which is gaining traction in non-healthcare contexts.

Through the platform, patients and doctors can conduct a video consultation which saves time, energy and money for both parties. 

Before the pandemic, the service was originally launched to the NHS in Scotland in 2016, providing the ‘blueprint’ for NHS England.

All 14 regional health boards have implemented Induction Attend Anywhere in Scotland and branded as ‘Near Me’. 

NHS Wales also renewed its existing contract with Induction in July 2021, with an upgrade and increase of its present scope, resulting in the widespread use of AA and other Induction products across Wales.

The programme has saved the environment roughly 47m miles of patient transport. 

Between January 2021 and January 2022, over 985,000 Near Me video consultations were conducted.

James Balmain, Chief Executive Officer, Induction Healthcare, commented, “Scotland has been a pioneer in driving remote consultations in the UK and was the home for our first major national contract for Induction Attend Anywhere.”

“With the support of NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government, we have shown that our products can be relied upon to deliver digital transformation strategies both within and beyond healthcare settings.”

“Induction remains on course to deliver very significant revenue growth this year in line with market expectations.” 

“These contract renewals are the first positive milestones in our renewal strategy and set out the pattern we expect to see across a very high proportion of our existing contracts in England.”

The mobile content and data intelligence company Mobile Streams has acquired the remaining 51% of KrunchData following its acquisition of the initial 49% stake in 2021.

Mobile Streams has taken over complete ownership by acquiring the remaining 51% of KrunchData for £765,000.

The company is paying £265,000 in cash and the remainder in 166,666,666 shares issued at 0.30p each.

Mobile Streams had already acquired 49% of KrunchData in 2021 for £735,000. The consideration consisted of £500,000 cash and 90,384,615 ordinary shares issued at 0.26p each.

The remaining 51% of KrunchData was available for Mobile Streams to acquire at any point within the next 2 years for £765,000.

The acquisition by Mobile Streams entitles them to all the systems, softwares and expertise formerly owned by KrunchData.

The streams data business provides ‘data insight, intelligence, visualisation services and marketing optimisation tools’. 

Half of the revenue from streams data would have also been owed to Krunch from January 2022 til the end of the joint-venture, providing an additional incentive for Mobile Streams to acquire the company and safeguarded the agreement between the firms.

Bob Moore, Chairman, Mobile Streams said, “the board is pleased to announce this transaction to acquire full ownership and control of KrunchData.”

“KrunchData has provided the expertise, systems, software and IP which has enabled the company to grow its streams data platform which supports the growth of our data insight, intelligence and visualisation services and marketing optimisation tools, as well as the growing content revenues from esports and gaming.”

In 2021, KrunchData reported net losses of £85,000 with revenues of £397,000.

Mobile Streams’ shares were trading down 1.4% to 30p after the company reported an 81% increase in losses.

Ocado shares are taking a dive with concerns the recovery from the pandemic will dent demand for the grocery delivery service.

Ocado shares have sunk 44% over the last year. On Thursday, Ocado shares again dropped sharply after company reduced their forecasted revenue growth from the mid teens to 10%.

In their latest results, Ocado stated their average basket size has reduced by 15% to £124 like for like. As consumers return to physical retail shopping, their spending online is falling, which is a big problem for Ocado’s service.

This of course isn’t anything new; Ocado has been suffering ever since people gained more freedom after the first lockdown.

Their latest results reflect this, and so does the Ocado share price.

“For the most part it’s been pretty tough going for Ocado since the heady days in September 2020 when it reached all-time highs of close to £30 per share,” said Russ Mould, Investment Director, AJ Bell.

“Back then it had been a beneficiary of lockdown and the enforced need to do grocery shopping online.”

“However, that excitement gave way to mounting disappointment as the company failed to sign up new clients, ironically blaming the pandemic restrictions which had helped act as a calling card for its services in the first place.”

Ocado’s Results

In their recent report, the company reported group revenue growth of 7.2% to £2.4bn with their retail division contributing £2.2bn in 2021.

Ocado also has provides technology solutions to companies in the UK and globally which had revenues of £710m and £66m in 2021.

However, the company’s expenses increased as distribution and administrative costs rose by 20% to £976m in 2021, contributing to the 48% hike in pre-tax loss to £219m.

Capital expenditure saw a rise from £525m to £680m in 2021 as the company continued to invest in technology for Ocado’s smart platform and new customer fulfilment centres.

The company’s costs have increased 12% associated with distribution to $536m in 2021. The order intake of Ocado is not rising at an equal pace with costs, leaving room for investor concern.

On Thursday, the joint venture between Ocado and Marks and Spencers raised concerns rising fuel costs could curtail spending on higher end groceries. Consumer spending is expected to reduce as clients migrate to more affordable options which is bad news for Ocado shares.

“UK-based Ocado Retail arm – now a joint venture with Marks & Spencer has been a success for both parties, the pressure on margins from rising inflation looks to be a growing issue and will not help Ocado at group level given the solutions business remains heavily loss-making,” said Russ Mould.

Ocado does not pay any dividend as the company hasn’t generate enough profit to warrant one, so it’s difficult to make an argument for holding and waiting for recovery given the soggy revenue outlook.

Expect further disappointment from the Ocado share price.

The FTSE 100 traded in a range on Friday after negotiations between Russia and Ukraine appeared to fall apart, and further Russian attacks close to NATO borders hit sentiment.

The FTSE 100 was trading down around 0.5% shortly after midday on Friday after what had otherwise been a strong week for London’s leading index.

The price of Brent Crude increased to $107 per barrel as negotiations between Russia and Ukraine showed signs of falling apart, ramping up scarcity fears and sending the commodity beyond $100 once again.

FTSE 100 risers

The top risers included Polymetal, up 1.4% to 142.4p, after the announcement of four new non-executive directors to its board.

“Polymetal jumped 6.4% after filling the big gaps in its board of directors after the mass resignations on 7 March,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The share price continues to be highly volatile with a clear risk that the business might have to consider delisting from the London Stock Exchange if serious Western investors are no longer willing to own the equity.”

Lloyds was one of the first banks to increase mortgage rates after yesterdays interest rates hike and their shares have seen an uptick of 0.2% to 48p.

Barclays, Natwest, HSBC and Standard Charter shares were down 0.9%, 0.3%, 0.7% and 1.3% on Friday morning.

Pearson

Pearson shares were down heavily as optimism around a potential takeover by Apollo subsided.

“Pearson was the top faller on the FTSE 100 which doesn’t send a positive signal regarding current takeover talks. Private equity firm Apollo has already had two bids rejected but was still trying to come up with an offer that would win over the board and shareholders,” commented Mould.

Travel related shares were heavily hit by rising oil prices, with Rolls Royce Holdings falling 3% to 91.1p and International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) decreasing 2.9% to 137.8p.

ITV shares declined 3.2% to 83.1p as investors watch the company prepare its ITVX project for launch into the highly competitive streaming entertainment market.