Trading Update

RNS Number : 3487D

Toople PLC

09 October 2018

 

For release at: 07.00 am, 9 October 2018

Toople PLC

("Toople" or the "Company")

Trading Update for the year ended 30 September 2018

Toople PLC (LSE: TOOP), a provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs, today gives the following update on trading.

The Board is pleased to report that since the Company's last update on the 25 September, Toople has made further significant operational and financial progress.  The Company is also pleased to announce that the first week of its new financial year has started ahead of management's expectations.

Toople ended its financial year trading strongly, with over 600 small businesses concluding contracts directly with the Company during August and September 2018. During these two months, around 20% of orders came from existing customers, demonstrating Toople's ability to grow both by adding new customers as well as selling add-ins to its existing customer base. The wholesale side of the business also continued to grow its number of partners with nine new agreements signed prior to the year end.

The Company has continued this momentum into October 2018 with a new record of 115 businesses signing up with Toople in the first week of October alone.

Toople's digital marketing campaign, one of the central tenants of its growth strategy, is generating an increasing level of enquiries from potential customers and a growing conversion rate. The marketing campaign has been structured to generate the best possible returns on capital employed and this increased level of enquiries together with efficient operating procedures have resulted in a lowering of the cost of new customer acquisition. Importantly, this campaign is generating new incremental business for the Company.

Andy Hollingworth, CEO at Toople commented:

"Toople continues to experience organic growth and the decision to implement an in-house sales strategy in place of the outsourced model is clearing starting to pay off in terms of generating leads, reducing cost per customer acquisition and increasing conversion rates." 

"During August and September, we announced a number of new contract and customer wins as well as a successful placing that we completed amid tough market conditions to provide us with a stable financial platform to exploit the new business pipeline we are creating and to see the Company through to positive cash flow generation. Our ability to continue to sell products to existing customers is underpinned by Toople's excellent trust pilot score which is currently at 9.1 out of 10."

"The Board is very pleased with the progress that the Company is making as we continue to cement our position as the telecom service partner of choice for SMEs in the United Kingdom and we look forward to providing further updates to shareholders." 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse.

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For further information please visit www.toople.com or contact:

Toople PLC Andy Hollingworth, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP David Coffman / Richard Nash	Tel: [phone]
Novum Securities Limited Colin Rowbury	Tel: [phone]
Turner Pope Investments Limited Andy Thacker	Tel: [phone]
Belvedere Communications John West / Llew Angus	Tel: [phone]

About Toople PLC

Toople Plc, a company incorporated in the UK provides a range of telecoms services primarily targeted at the UK SME market. Services offered by the Group include business broadband, fibre, EFM and Ethernet data services, business mobile phones, cloud PBX and SIP Trunking and Traditional Services (calls and lines) all of which are delivered and managed through Merlin, the Group's proprietary software platform.

The Group is differentiated by its focus on creating business broadband solutions, with robust and reliable packages that will enhance our customers company's. In addition, our vision is based on trust and transparency, with no hidden fees within our pricing policy providing customers with a clear understanding of cost.

Toople Plc has a strong and highly experienced Board and management team who are focused on growing the business both organically and by identifying earnings enhancing strategic acquisition opportunities.

 

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