Monitise rockets on half year guidance

Monitise, the mobile banking company, has seen its shares rocket this morning after issuing positive guidance on revenues for the six months to the end of December.

Income for the period is expected to be approximately £15m, compared with £5.3m in the prior year. This means the company's half year revenues will be greater than the total full year figure for last year. Gross margins, however, are expected to remain steady at 62%.

For the first half of this year, the EBITDA loss (pre-exceptional items) is expected to be broadly in line with the loss in the equivalent period last year.

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Monitise says more than 5.5m people have signed up for its mobile money services compared with 3m registered customers at the start of January 2011. Bank transfers and payments processed via the Monitise platform have risen to more than £1bn in the year to date.

Monitise is also developing a strategic relationship with Visa Europe, which bought 70.5m shares in the group in October and whose Chief Executive Peter Ayliffe is now a member of the Monitise board.

It's thought the relationship could become more high profile ahead of the London 2012 Olympics of which Visa is a major sponsor.

Monitise Chief Executive Alastair Lukies said of today's guidance: "Monitise has positioned itself as the only independent, interoperable, bank-grade mobile technology platform open to deliver services across any market to any device. The market opportunity is huge and we will continue to invest to ensure we retain our leadership role."

Shares in Monitise were up 10.3% at 9:03am in London at 29.25p. Since January the company has risen 47% in value.

BS