TIDMVNET
RNS Number : 3383Q
Vianet Group PLC
27 October 2021
27 October 2021
Vianet Group plc
("Vianet" or the "Group")
Trading Update and Notice of Results
Vianet Group plc (AIM: VNET), the international provider of
actionable data and business insight through devices connected to
its Internet of Things platform ("IOT"), today announces the
following trading update and notifies that it will release its
results for the six months ended 30 September 2021 on Tuesday, 7
December 2021.
About Us and What We Do
Vianet is an international provider of internet enabled, cloud
based, telemetric services to the hospitality, and unattended
retail vending, and remote asset management sectors.
The Group's Smart Zones division provides unparalleled quality
management, business intelligence and waste management services to
the drinks retailing industry.
Our Smart Machines division provides innovative real time
monitoring, business intelligence and data insights for unattended
vending machines that maximises operational efficiency, stock
control and cash flow.
Market Developments
The easing of Covid-19 restrictions has meant that the Smart
Zones division has benefitted from strong momentum in Q2. Almost
all our clients are now fully operational, and this has resulted in
a strong rebound in revenues.
In the Smart Machines Division some 70% of our unattended
machines have been fully operational throughout the pandemic. The
gradual re-opening of city centres and the continued demand for
cashless vending solutions has resulted in new sales and a 12.9%
increase in total connected devices which has further contributed
towards our strong H1 performance.
Working with our suppliers, we have so far managed to mitigate
the impact of the global semi-conductor supply shortages on
customer installation programmes, however this has resulted in
paying marginally higher stock premiums for components.
Operational and Financial Updates
We are pleased to confirm the strong recovery in the Group's
revenues through H1, with turnover up 55% to GBP6.3m (H1 2020:
GBP4.1m and H1 2019: GBP8.4m) and pleasingly slightly above our
expectations for the first six months of the year given
restrictions ran late into the period and our supply chain costs
were marginally higher. Whilst new device sales are encouraging the
recurring revenues from long term customers have bounced back to
being c. 90% of turnover.
From the outset of the pandemic, we have worked closely with our
customers and have focused on managing our cash. We remain
confident that the Group has adequate funding to support our
ongoing business requirements as well as our planned investment for
a sustained period.
We remain committed to our strategy of development and delivery
of our product roadmap to improve the quality of our existing
revenue streams and to take advantage of the exciting growth
opportunities we see ahead.
Subject to no further lockdowns or restrictions on the
hospitality sector and no deterioration of semi-conductor supply,
we expect H2 cash generation will enable the Board to reinstate a
dividend in July for FY2022.
James Dickson, Chairman of Vianet, commented:
"Our focus, throughout the pandemic, has been on working closely
with our customers and suppliers, shrewd cash management and
ensuring we come through it in a strong position to take advantage
of the clear opportunities in remote asset management, contactless
payment and market data insights.
"Whilst Covid-19 and Brexit related challenges may endure for
some time, our ongoing investment in product and people is creating
real momentum, and I am confident that the Group has the team and
financial wherewithal to drive growth for a sustained period, as
the demand for both data and contactless solutions grows.
"I am pleased to confirm that, subject to no further lockdowns
or restrictions on the hospitality sector in H2, and a degree of
relative stability in the semi-conductor supply chain, we expect to
reinstate a dividend in July for FY2022."
- Ends -
Enquiries:
Vianet Group plc
James Dickson, Chairman & Interim Tel: +44 (0) 1642 358
CEO 800
Mark Foster, CFO www.vianetplc.com
Cenkos Securities plc
Stephen Keys / Camilla Hume Tel: +44 (0) 20 7397
8900
www.cenkos.com
Media enquiries:
Yellow Jersey PR
Sarah Hollins Tel: +44 (0)7764 947
Henry Wilkinson 137
vianet@yellowjerseypr.com Tel: +44 (0)7951 402
336
www.yellowjerseypr.com
About Vianet
Vianet Group is a leading provider of actionable management
information and business insight created through combining data
from our smart Internet of Things ('IOT') solutions and external
information sources.
Since Admission to AIM in 2006, the Group has grown from its
core beer monitoring business both organically and through
strategic acquisitions to widen its offering and develop new
businesses, especially in vending telemetry and contactless payment
solutions particularly for the premium coffee sector.
Servicing over 300 customers across the world and rendering live
data to our IOT platform from over 250,000 connected machines
daily, Vianet is one of the largest business to business (b2b)
connected solutions providers in Europe with established long-term
relationships with blue chip customers and growing recurring
revenues which are over 85% of our total revenues.
In our Smart Machines Division, we connect a single data
gathering device with its own on-board communication capability to
a customer's asset or system. The device then sends data back via
our IOT platform to cloud based servers. The technology was
originally developed for automated retailing machines; however, the
flexibility and functionality of the device means the technology
can be applied to practically any machine which has the capability
to output data. The device is also used to connect our contactless
payment solution and communicate payment terms to our cloud-based
payment services providers where that application is also
required.
The Smart Zones Division is where we connect multiple data
gathering devices into one or more systems or assets with the data
from those devices being communicated back to our IOT platform and
cloud-based servers via a single 3G communications hub. The
technology was originally developed for flow monitoring devices,
temperature sensors, and asset management in drinks retailing but
practically any data gathering device with a digital output could
be connected to the communications hub where required such as
gaming machines, utilities management and EPOS.
For further information, please visit www.vianetplc.com
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END
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