Monitise slashes revenue outlook

Monitise slashes revenue outlook

Shares in Monitise plunged by more than 15% in morning trading after the mobile money firm cut its full year revenue growth forecast for the second time.

In a trading update, the company says that it now expects full year revenue to be between £95 million and £97 million, representing year-on-year growth of between 31% and 33%. This is down on the 40% growth it predicted in March, which itself was a downgrade from the previously stated expectation of 50%.

The revenue shortfall means that Monitise now expects to make a full year Ebitda loss of between £32 million and £36 million, compared to the Bloomberg consensus average of £28 million.

The poor numbers are being blamed on the firm's overhaul of its business model, as it ditches big upfront license fees in favour of a subscription-based system designed to cut costs for banks and boost its own long-term annuities.

The shift to the new model has been faster than expected with some big contracts being renegotiated earlier than planned.

Despite the disappointing results, Monitise insists that it is still on course to finally be Ebitda profitable by 2016. It has also repeated that it is considering a move to a main LSE listing.

Despite its struggles to turn a profit, Monitse has had no trouble raising cash and attracting partners. In March it raised around £109 million in a share-placing joined by MasterCard. Visa is also an investor.

Last month former Visa executive Elizabeth Buse was brought on board to act as co-CEO, looking after day-to-day operations while founder Alastair Lukies focuses on managing outside relationships.

Says Buse: "Having taken the decision to forego certain shorter-term licence revenue in favour of longer-term subscription revenue, our priorities for the year ahead are executing on the strategy we are now aggressively pursuing."

Shares in the company were down 7.75 pence, or 15.7%, to 41.5 pence a share in mid-morning trading.

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