Significant Cloud Contract Win and Order Update

RNS Number : 9367V

Eckoh PLC

15 August 2022

 

15th August 2022

Eckoh plc

("Eckoh", or the "Group")

Significant cloud contract win and order update

$1.3m cloud contract win from leading, global hotel brand

- Increasing demand for Eckoh's patented technology in the cloud

- Order levels for Q1 FY23 significantly ahead of Q1 FY22

In the Group's preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2022, Eckoh (AIM: ECK), the global provider of Customer Engagement Security Solutions, indicated order levels had grown substantially in the first two months of trading compared to the prior year and its new business pipeline had significantly strengthened, including major opportunities for large blue-chip organisations.

The Group is pleased to report that this trend is continuing, and order levels have shown robust growth, with total orders for the first quarter of FY23 substantially higher than the first quarter of FY22.  As a result of an attractive pipeline of opportunities, the Group expects order levels to continue to be strong and for H1 FY23 to be significantly higher than the previous year, in line with the Board's expectations.

Contract Wins

As part of the Group's momentum with new business, Eckoh is pleased to announce it has won a 2-year contract worth a minimum of $1.3m with a leading, global hotel company following a successful competitive process.  Eckoh will provide a cloud solution to the new client, incorporating both voice payment security, digital payments, and advanced speech recognition. When fully deployed, it is expected to cover more than 20 territories and an equivalent number of different languages.

This important contract win shows the merit of Eckoh's long standing strategy to pursue larger opportunities and the success of the plan to cross-sell from a broader product suite following the acquisition of Syntec in December 2021.  The contract win also shows the continuing trend towards cloud adoption and more international mandates.  The solution is expected to go live in the second half of this financial year and in line with other cloud contracts will deliver higher levels of recurring revenue and margin.

The Group is also pleased to announce a contract win following a competitive tender for voice payment security with the Irish division of one the world's largest insurance companies. The deal is worth a minimum of £0.6m over 5 years and it is expected that this will be one of the first clients to utilise the new enhanced cloud platform that has been developed through the 'Syntegration' project.  This win reflects Eckoh's strategy to target sectors which are well suited to our model, technology, and product suite and secure significant, international mandates for large blue-chip organisations.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"It is pleasing to see such a positive start to the financial year with the renewed strength of Eckoh's order levels and our new business pipeline delivering significant wins. These and other recent contract wins are important for three reasons.  First, they underline the momentum behind our decision to invest in broadening our cloud proposition geographically, with multiple suppliers and product offerings to support the growing international mandates.  Second, they show the success of our strategy to cross-sell from our new suite of products.  Third, they show progress for our strategy to target attractive sectors which are best suited to our model, technology, and product suite.

We expect the momentum we have seen in the first few months to help support our expectations of significant revenue and profit growth for Eckoh this year."

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For further information please contact:

Eckoh plc Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer Chrissie Herbert, Chief Financial Officer www.eckoh.com	Tel: [phone]
FTI Consulting LLP Ed Bridges / Jamie Ricketts / Tom Blundell [e-mail]	Tel: [phone]
Singer Capital Markets (Nomad & Joint Broker) Shaun Dobson / Tom Salvesen / Alex Bond / Kailey Aliyar www.singercm.com	Tel: [phone]
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker) Simon Bridges / Andrew Potts www.canaccordgenuity.com	Tel: [phone]

About Eckoh plc

Eckoh is a global provider of Customer Engagement Security Solutions, supporting an international client base from its offices in the UK and US.

Our Customer Engagement Security Solutions enable enquiries and transactions to be performed on whatever device the customer chooses, allowing organisations to increase efficiency, lower operational costs and provide a true omnichannel experience.

We help our clients to take payments and transact securely with their customers through all customer engagement channels. The solutions, which are protected by multiple patents, remove sensitive personal and payment data from contact centres and IT environments and are delivered globally through our multiple cloud platforms or can be deployed on the client's site. They offer merchants a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of fraud, secure sensitive data and become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") and wider data security regulations. Eckoh has been a PCI DSS Level One Accredited Service Provider since 2010, securing over £5 billion in payments annually.

Our large portfolio of clients come from a broad range of vertical markets and includes government departments, telecoms providers, retailers, utility providers and financial services organisations.

For more information go to www.eckoh.com or email [e-mail].

 

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