Monitise sees revenues surge in first half

AIM-listed mobile banking technology group Monitise reported strong revenue growth in the first half of its financial year on Monday, as it announced that it is to launch a mobile payments service in Indonesia.

The company, which helps consumers make banking payments from their mobile gadgets, said that revenue during the six months to December 31st totalled £27.8m, up 63% year-on-year, driven by strong growth in user-generated revenue which rose 164%.

On an organic basis, which assumes that the acquired Clairmail division (now called Monitise Americas) had been included in the previous year's financial results, group revenues were up 22%.

Gross margins improved from 64% to 72%, helped by a greater proportion of user generated revenue.

However, to reflect increased investment in future operations and the acquisition of Clairmail, the group EBITDA loss widened from £4.2m to £14.7m, in line with expectations (EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).

"This has been yet another successful period in the Monitise journey," said Chairman Duncan McIntyre.

"We were delighted with the strong investment community interest and support shown for our business with the capital raise carried out in December 2012. The proceeds from this are being used to rapidly scale our business as we enhance our global Mobile Money leadership position, laying deeper foundations for future growth."

The total cash balance was £106.4m at the end of the period, up from £41.4m the year before.

Collaboration with BlackBerry and PermataBankIn a separate the statement, Monitise announced the launch of the world's first mobile payments service for BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

The BBM Money feature, create by PT Bank Permata and BlackBerry with the support of Monitise, will roll out via a commercial pilot for BlackBerry smartphones in Indonesia following approval ahead of a full launch.

"BlackBerry users will have the option to access a Mobile Money account from their smartphone and make real-time payments simply and securely from within BBM to their contacts who are also signed up to the service, buy mobile airtime credit and transfer money to bank accounts," the firm explained.