LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Secure payments provider PCI-PAL updated the market on its trading for the six months ended 31 December on Wednesday, saying it was pleased with the "strong performance" it achieved against key metrics in the first half.
The AIM-traded firm said that in particular, its revenue growth increased by over 70% year-on-year to more than £2.0m.

That, the board said, illustrated the growing benefits of our software-as-a-service (SaaS) based revenue model as it recognised revenues from the accumulating total annual contract value of contracts signed to date.

Its key metric of total annual contract value grew 47% year-on-year to £5m at the end of the first half.

The group signed new contracts globally with a recurring annual contract value of £1.2m in the period, which it said was a positive result considering the £1.3m annual contract value achieved at the same period a year earlier, which included the company's two largest contracts ever signed at the time, totaling £0.9m in annual contract value alone.

Total Contract Value of new customers signed in the period grew 18% to £4.0m.

The channel centric go-to-market strategy was still driving opportunities into the sales pipeline, the board claimed, with 82% of all new business contracts coming from partners.

Additionally, the company had further underlined our ability to win strategically important direct business, having announced its second-largest contract ever in December, worth $0.57m in annual contract value.

PCI-PAL said that competitive win in the United States further demonstrated the value of its SaaS model, as the first three years of contractual fees would be paid in advance and were expected to be invoiced within the current financial year.

The group ended the period with cash of £1.48m, down from £1.49m at the end of June, and a net debt position of £0.02m, narrowing from £1.49m, with a further £1.25m of loan facilities still available to draw.

"I am extremely pleased with the significant growth in revenue compared to the same period last year," said chief executive officer James Barham.

"This is not only testament to the proven SaaS revenue model driven by growth in total annual contract value, but also the solid progress we have continued to make in improving the pace at which we complete customer implementations and therefore begin to recognise revenue.

"In the last six months we have continued to execute on our channel strategy as more of the partner arrangements we have put in place begin to produce new sales pipeline and customer contracts."

Barham said that additionally, through the signing of the group's second-largest contract to date, it had again proven that enterprise organisations were looking to "truly cloud-based solutions" to secure their payments.

"Looking forward, the Board is confident that we will continue the momentum built in the first half against key metrics and that the company's strategy and market positioning means it is well placed to continue the progress made in the last 12 months."

PCI-PAL said it would release its interim results in the week beginning 2 March.

At 0853 GMT, shares in PCI-PAL were up 1.15% at 42.99p.

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