PCIP Pci-pal Plc

6 February 2024

PCI-PAL PLC

("PCI Pal", the "Company" or "the Group")

Trading Update & Notice of Results

First period of EBITDA profit for the Group

PCI-PAL PLC (AIM: PCIP), the global cloud provider of secure payment solutions for business communications, is pleased to announce a trading update for the six months to 31 December 2023 (the "Period" or "H1").

Revenue for H1 was in line with management expectations and up 20% year on year to £8.7 million (2022: £7.3 million).  ARR at the Period end increased 23% year on year to £14.7 million (2022: £11.9 million), and as expected, H1 was the Group's first reported period of positive EBITDA since its re-launch as PCI Pal in 2016.

New business sales ACV in the Period was £1.6 million, 9% ahead of the prior year, with notable contributions coming from the Company's market-leading partner eco-system which made up a record 87% of the ACV signed to date (2022: 83%).  Since the Period end, sales have continued to grow strongly and in the financial year to date the Group has now delivered more than £2 million of total new business ACV.

This continued sales momentum is driving the Group towards its profitability objectives.  The Group finished H1 with net cash of £0.54 million (30 June 2023: £1.17 million), having paid out £1.1 million in costs relating to the patent case.  The Company's debt facility is currently undrawn.

Further strengthening of partner eco-system

On 13 November 2023, the Group was pleased to announce a major new global strategic partnership with Zoom, the well-known provider of video communications whose business has evolved over the last three years to incorporate global offerings for both office and contact centre phone systems (UCaaS¹ and CCaaS² respectively).  Leveraging PCI Pal's patented cloud-to-cloud integration methods, the Zoom integrations are due for full launch in Q3 of the current financial year.

Patent Case Update

During H1, the Company made substantial progress in its on-going patent litigation with its competitor, Sycurio Limited.  The Company had a resounding victory in the UK trial in the case both invalidating Sycurio's patents for prior art and proving non-infringement.  Sycurio is appealing the verdicts.  The US litigation continues with the trial now scheduled for February 2025. 

It has been the long-held view of the Board that Sycurio brought this unfounded lawsuit in an attempt to disrupt PCI Pal's business.  As the case has progressed, this view has only been strengthened. The Board believes the risk of any material impact on the business because of the litigation has decreased substantially following its victory in the UK trial.

Commenting on progress in the Period, James Barham, Chief Executive Officer of PCI Pal, said:

"We continue to grow strongly and this performance is testament to our long term, partner-first strategy.  H1 saw us sell more ACV proportionately through our partner eco-system than ever before   We believe we are well positioned to capitalise on this base to drive expansion business through that eco-system, particularly with the rollout of our newly enhanced product-set and the addition of Zoom as a significant new partner.

"The start of H2 has seen the Group maintain new sales momentum and we continue to focus on delivering the Group's profitability objectives, enhancing shareholder value, and capitalising on the strategic opportunities for continued growth."

Notice of Results:

The Company expects to announce its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2023 in the week beginning 26 February 2024.

¹  UCaaS is Unified Communications as a Service

²  CCaaS is Contact Centre as a Service

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About PCI Pal:

PCI Pal is a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") solutions that empower companies to take payments from their customers securely, adhere to strict industry governance, and remove their business from the significant risks posed by non-compliance and data loss. Our products secure payments and data in any business communications environment including voice, chat, social, email, and contact centre. We are integrated to, and resold by, some of the worlds' leading business communications vendors, as well as major payment service providers.

The entirety of our product-base is available from our global cloud platform hosted in Amazon Web Services ("AWS"), with regional instances across EMEA, North America, and ANZ.

For more information visit www.pcipal.com or follow the team on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pci-pal/