Shares in AIM listed online dating company Cupid (LON:CUP) enjoyed the steepest rise on the market this morning on news that monthly revenues had now exceeded £4 million and were continuing to grow. Since reporting its 2010 results in March, Cupid said it had seen further significant progress and that over 50% of monthly revenues were now from outside the UK. That figure is up from the 42% of revenues recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company previously reported that overall revenues last year rose by 202% to 25.7 million. The group said it now had a high degree of confidence in its current performance as well as future growth opportunities that go beyond the levels previously forecast.

Cupid said its North America division was performing “exceptionally well and ahead of plan” while the UK performance remained strong and levels of usage and subscription uptake in India were above forecast. The group has purchased the domain cupidon.com for £175,000 (‘cupidon’ being the French equivalent of the word ‘cupid’) and is using this domain alongside French equivalents of other Cupid plc owned domains to drive revenues in the French dating market well beyond those previously forecast for 2011. The group said it was continuing to focus on European M&A targets.

Bill Dobbie, the chief executive of Cupid, said: “We are very pleased with this continuing strong performance. Our growing revenues are a reflection of our continued geographical growth and increased uptake of our mobile applications. Underlying this is the increasing global acceptance and credibility of the online dating industry which is leading to further demand for the services we offer. We are very pleased to upgrade our forecasts for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and look forward to this growth continuing.”

Cupid was formerly known as Easydate and listed on AIM in June 2010. It has built a base of over 23 million members in 39 countries, with a growing proportion of members coming from outside of the UK. In April, it raised £12 million in a share placing priced at 110p per share. Today, the Cupid share price rose by 25.5p to 154p.

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