Data security solutions firm Eckoh closed in on a “record” with “early success” from its North America commercial strategy, despite an overall downward trend in full-year revenue.
In an full-year update to investors today, the Aim-listed speech recognition business said revenue was at £37.2m, down four per cent from £38.8m the year prior.
Gross profit of £31m was also slightly down one per cent from £31.2m in 2023. However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was up eight per cent from £9.4m in 2023 to £10.2m this year.
Adjusted operating profit for the firm also saw an eight per cent jump, up from £7.7m in 2023 to £8.3m this year.
Eckoh deployed a new strategy at the beginning of the year with a new commercial team focused in North America, which chief executive Nick Philpot said resulted in “early success” as the firm’s North America Security Solutions annual recurring revenue was up eight per cent from £15.9m in 2023 to £16.8m this year.
“The strategic decision at the beginning of the year to create a single commercial team focused on North America has delivered early success, with the record level of new business and the number of long multi-year contract renewals, which gives us excellent revenue visibility and improves our ability to further increase our strong cross-sell and up-sell pipeline,” he added.
Philpot said the firm expects to further this strategy in the coming year, with new plans to leverage its products and platforms within its larger accounts.
He added: “This was in many ways a milestone year for Eckoh, with record levels of contracts won, a record level of new business secured in North America and a record level of client renewals.
“It was also the first year when all new contracts won were for cloud deployments, illustrating the pace at which our cloud transition is proceeding, and whilst this has tempered our headline revenue growth it continues to improve our revenue visibility and margin.
“It’s testament to the quality, performance and hard work of our team that this strategic progress has been made.”