Mobile services provider iTouch`s third-quarter results have come in ahead of expectations, and chairman Ivan Fallon says the company is moving steadily towards profitability.
Joint-MD Avi Azulai says the company experienced a good quarter, with further growth in both the corporate and consumer businesses. Of the lb10 million revenues for the nine months to 30 September 2001, lb4 million was achieved in the third quarter.
<B>Figures at a glance</B>
iTouch`s results for the nine months to 30 September 2001
Figures for the same period of 2000 in parentheses:
Turnover: lb10.01m (lb2.25m)
Gross profit: lb5.47m (lb1.26m)
Operating profit: -lb12.55m (-lb10.46m)
After-tax profit: -lb12.2m (-lb9.86m)
Basic eps: -4.2p (-4.9p)
Net current assets: lb39.57m (lb51.65m)
Cash balance: lb41.45m (lb52.78m)
"We had an average of 624 SMS Corporate subscribers during the third quarter - an increase of 39% over the second quarter," he adds.
The average number of corporate messages in the quarter reached 2 million a month.
The consumer business also had a good quarter, with an average of more than 187 000 registered users in the period, an increase of 25% from the second quarter. Of these, more than 160 000 had received a message in the previous month.
SA accounted for lb2.04 million or 20.35% of total revenue.
"iTouch SA had another strong quarter, with revenues up 16% on quarter two, including digital mall. IVR (interactive voice response) revenues were up over 90% in the quarter, helped by our involvement in the Big Brother show in SA."
SMS content revenues in SA were up more than 17% on the second quarter, reflecting growth in the Mobile Originate SMS service with Vodacom.
The lb3.5 million cash acquisition of Thus plc`s voice business in the UK has made the company one of the biggest players in interactive voice information in Britain, and Azulai says it provides the company with a significant customer base to expand its mobile services.
He says that the company is still incurring losses at the operating level, but as iTouch is in the early stages of development, this is expected.
"iTouch has had an excellent nine months. Revenue will again increase in the fourth quarter, significantly helped by the recent acquisition in the UK of the Thus Voice business.
"Our focus for the final quarter is to continue to drive both consumer and corporate sales, rigorously contain costs and to integrate rapidly the Thus Voice business into iTouch UK."
The iTouch share closed at 22.75p on the London Stock Exchange yesterday, up from 21p the previous day. It traded as high as 24p during the day.
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