REG - Accesso Technology - Final Results
15/04/2025 07:02
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RNS Number : 0628F Accesso Technology Group PLC 15 April 2025
15 April 2025
accesso® Technology Group plc
("accesso" or the "Group")
RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
accesso Technology Group plc (AIM: ACSO), the premier technology solutions
provider for attractions and venues worldwide, today announces results for the
year ended 31 December 2024 ('2024').
Commenting on the results, Steve Brown, Chief Executive Officer of accesso,
said:
"We are pleased to have delivered results in line with our revised revenue
guidance while exceeding our expectations on profit. We know this outturn is
not at the level we set out to achieve at the start of the year, but we
delivered these results in conditions where our customers faced lower levels
of consumer activity, and a key strategic project in Saudi Arabia saw a shift
in the planned opening date. Despite these challenges, we held our business
steady, managed costs, and continued to diversify. We are growing in important
new geographies like the Middle East, and our new restaurant and retail
solution, accesso Freedom(SM) is gaining traction. Our pipeline is strong and
our technology continues to deliver outstanding results for our clients.
Accesso today is more resilient and better equipped with market-leading
technology than ever, and I'm proud of the team for their outstanding work
delivering excellence across the business.
As we look forward, we continue to push ahead with our initiatives to deliver
top line growth while focusing on profitability. We are prioritising
high-margin revenue streams, controlling costs, and seeing real results in
driving operational excellence across our portfolio. Although our operating
environment had been improving in recent months, we now need to exercise
prudence in the face of possible US tariff-related macroeconomic impacts. It
is too early to predict exactly how these dynamics might affect our year
ahead, but we are cautiously optimistic given the importance of our dynamic
solutions as customers flex product, pricing and promotions in response to
changes in the consumer landscape. Our global customer base is largely
comprised of local and regional venues which have historically shown
resilience as consumers opt for nearby entertainment offerings in lieu of
higher cost destination holiday travel. We will invest in strategic growth
areas, refine our commercial approach to expand market presence and continue
to excel in cost management to ensure sustained success. We remain confident
in our ability to drive long-term value as we continue to grow the business."
2024 Highlights
Financial highlights
2024 2023 Vs 2023
$000 $000 %
Revenue 152,291 149,515 1.9%
Revenue excluding seasonal staffing pass through and B2C exit ((5)) 151,829 144,124 5.3%
Revenue - constant currency ((4)) 150,293 149,515 0.5%
Cash EBITDA ((1)) 22,831 23,626 (3.4)%
Statutory profit before tax 11,681 8,808 32.6%
Net cash ((2)) 28,716 31,465 (8.7)%
Adjusted basic EPS (cents) ((3)) 38.39 37.48 2.4%
Basic earnings per share (cents) 22.38 19.19 16.6%
Footnotes:
(1) Cash EBITDA: operating profit before the deduction of amortisation,
depreciation, acquisition, integration and disposal costs, and costs related
to share-based payments less capitalised development costs (see reconciliation
in the Financial Review).
(2) Net cash is calculated as cash and cash equivalents less borrowings.
(3) Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated after adjusting operating
profit for impairment of intangible assets, amortisation on acquired
intangibles, acquisition, integration and disposal costs and share-based
payments, net of tax at the effective rate for the period on the taxable
adjusted items (as detailed on note 11).
(4) Revenue metrics for the period ended 31 December 2024 have been prepared
on a constant currency basis with the period ended 31 December 2023 to assist
with assessing the underlying performance of the revenue streams. Average
monthly rates for FY 2023 were used to translate the monthly FY 2024 results
into a constant currency using the range of currencies as set out below:
a. GBP sterling - $1.21 - $1.29
b. Euro - $1.06 - $1.11
c. Canadian dollars - $0.73 - $0.76
d. Australian dollars - $0.64 - $0.69
e. Mexican pesos - $0.05 - $0.06
f. Brazilian real - $0.19 - $0.21
g. Singapore dollars - $0.73 - $0.75
h. United Arab Emirates dirham - $0.27 - $0.27
(5) Seasonal staffing represents costs recharged to a major customer in the
Group. The recharge of these costs ended at the end of H1 2023. The Group also
exited its B2C business, From the Box Office, in May 2024, the figures
presented exclude the revenues generated from this business in both 2024
($0.5m) and 2023 ($2.0m).
Performance highlights
· Performance in line with revised expectations: Group revenue showed modest
growth of 1.9% reaching a total of $152.3m. Adjusting for the decision to step
away from $3.3m pass-through revenue from a virtual queuing customer, the
Group's revenue growth was approximately 4.2%. Adjusting further for the
impact of the decision to exit the Group's B2C business in May 2024 (B2C
revenue 2024: $0.5m, 2023: $2.0m) this growth rate would have been 5.3%. The
Group also delivered $22.8m of Cash EBITDA, reaching a margin of 15% and
exceeding the Group's revised guidance range of 13% - 14%.
· New business shows demand remains strong: During 2024 we won 30 new venue
contracts across a broad range of end markets, with 7 of these venues taking a
combination of products. Our future pipeline remains strong, with a clear
focus on improving proposal conversion rates in 2025 to ensure accelerated
success.
· New propositions gaining traction: accesso Horizon(sm) continues to gain
traction with customers, including in important growth markets like Saudi
Arabia. Despite project delays impacting FY 2024 trading, we have already seen
further new business flow from our expanded footprint in-country, including
the new Six Flags theme park and the Aquarabia water park at the expansive new
Qiddiya City development. Our Restaurant & Retail proposition accesso
Freedom is also demonstrating its long-term potential having secured its first
11 wins during the year with a strong pipeline for 2025.
· Continued operational focus enables profit ahead of revised expectation
expansion: We were pleased to deliver a cash EBITDA margin ahead of our
revised expectations for 2024 and driving operational excellence through the
Group remains a key theme during 2025. We continue to focus on expanding our
higher margin revenue streams, remaining laser-focused on cost while
continuing to innovate, and making progress to increase profit in some of our
historically less profitable areas.
· Post period-end GTM changes: With a higher rate of revenue growth a key
priority, a restructure of our Commercial operation is realigning resources
and go-to-market strategy to more comprehensively address our expanded range
of solutions and global market reach.
· Leadership Expansion: Considering the scale of our business with nearly 700
staff across 18 countries and the importance of an efficient operational
strategy across the Group, Lee Cowie has joined as Chief Operating Officer.
Lee brings extensive expertise in technology and operational excellence,
having driven successful digital innovation and efficiency programmes during
his tenure as Chief Technology Officer at Merlin Entertainments.
· Outlook: accesso remains a diversified and resilient business. However, we
need to be mindful that operators are facing increasingly complex
macroeconomic conditions which may impact the timing of new technology
investment. As a result, our transactional revenue is more difficult than
usual to predict, particularly the backdrop of a rapidly evolving global
tariff dynamic and with the key periods of the trading year still ahead of us.
In recognition of the current forecasting environment, the Company's guidance
for revenue in 2025 is that growth is unlikely to exceed the effective 5.3%
reported in 2024. Meanwhile, our ability to manage profitability while
investing in strategic growth areas gives us confidence that we can deliver a
Cash EBITDA margin in line with or slightly ahead of current consensus. With
around a third of Group revenues generated in currencies outside of USD, we
are also mindful of the recent movement in foreign exchange rates,
particularly in any strengthening of USD against GBP and EUR. The outlook
above is based on the current prevailing rates of GBPUSD $1.288 and EURUSD
$1.077 continuing to hold through the remainder of the year.
· Buyback programme: In line with the ongoing capital allocation strategy, we
are separately announcing today a share buyback programme of up to £8.0m (USD
$10.3m) to be executed through the remainder of 2025.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No.
596/2014 ("MAR").
Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now
considered to be in the public domain. The Company will be hosting a webcast
presentation for analysts at 1pm. Analysts and institutional investors can
register for the presentation using the following link:
https://www.lsegissuerservices.com/spark-insights/AccessoTechnologyGroup/events/7aface9e-1c31-4301-8442-e17d6655f518/accesso-full-year-results-2024
(https://www.lsegissuerservices.com/spark-insights/AccessoTechnologyGroup/events/7aface9e-1c31-4301-8442-e17d6655f518/accesso-full-year-results-2024)
. A copy of the presentation made to analysts will also be available for
download from the Group's website shortly after the conclusion of the meeting.
For further information, please contact:
accesso Technology Group plc +44 (0)118 934 7400
Steve Brown, Chief Executive Officer
Matthew Boyle, Chief Financial Officer
Deutsche Numis (Nominated Adviser and Sole +44 (0)20 7260 1000
Broker)
Simon Willis, Joshua Hughes, Iqra Amin
DGA Group (Financial Public Relations) +44 (0)20 7550 9225
Adam Davidson, Corbin Ellington
About accesso Technology Group plc
At accesso, we believe technology has the power to redefine the guest
experience. Our patented and award-winning solutions drive increased revenue
for attraction operators while improving the guest experience. Currently
serving over 1,200 clients in 33 countries around the globe, accesso's
solutions help our clients streamline operations, generate increased revenues,
improve guest satisfaction and harness the power of data to facilitate
business and marketing decisions.
accesso stands as the leading technology provider of choice for tomorrow's
attractions, venues and institutions. To stay ahead, we invest heavily in
research and development because our industries demand it, our clients benefit
from it and it makes a positive impact on the guest experience. Our innovative
technology solutions allow venues to increase the volume and range of on-site
spending and to drive increased transaction-based revenue through cutting edge
ticketing, point-of-sale, virtual queuing, distribution and experience
management software.
Many of our team members have direct, hands-on experience working in the
venues we serve. In this way, we are experienced operators who run a
technology company serving attractions operators, versus a technology company
that happens to serve the market. From our agile development team to our
dedicated client service specialists, every team member knows that their
passion, integrity, commitment, teamwork and innovation are what drive our
success.
accesso is a public company, listed on AIM: a market operated by the London
Stock Exchange. For more information visit www.accesso.com
(https://www.accesso.com/) . Follow accesso on X
(https://x.com/accessotech) , LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/accesso) and Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/accessoTechnologyGroup/) .
***
Chief Executive's review
"We remain focused and resilient, with further growth in our sights as we
build for the long-term and position accesso for sustainable, global success".
Standing up to be counted in 2024
The 2024 financial year once again proved accesso's agility in responding to
changing conditions. Although ahead of prior year, a softening macroeconomic
environment reduced the level of transactional activity below what we had
originally expected. As operators experienced this slightly softer than
anticipated demand, our products and their transactional revenue streams
remained resilient, with both accesso Passport and accesso LoQueue slightly
ahead of the prior year. We also note that operators' approach to purchasing
decisions becomes a bit more cautious during these periods, which in turn,
slowed the pace of our sales conversion. In Saudi Arabia - an important growth
market for the Group - we saw a delay to a major project timeline. Overall,
falling short of the ambitions we set for ourselves at the start of the year
is, of course, a disappointment. However, I am proud of the way in which our
team remained resilient and responded, and still enabled us to exceed the
revised profit expectations we set in August.
To hold our business steady in these circumstances tells me accesso is
committed enough at the level of our team, commercial enough at the level of
our operations, and innovative enough at the level of our product to meet our
long-term ambitions for growth and returns. In a market that may be challenged
in the near-term with ongoing uncertainties, our track record demonstrates our
ability both to capture higher levels of demand when they present themselves,
and balance expenses when activity is lower than expected.
Our culture of teamwork is at the core of our adaptability and ongoing
success, and this has never been more evident than during 2024 as we suffered
the loss of our CFO, Fern MacDonald. Her world-class skills and immeasurable
contributions to accesso have left a lasting legacy. I extend my deepest
gratitude to everyone, especially those closest to Fern, for their fortitude
and perseverance. The strong, high-quality team that Fern built continues our
important financial work, embodying her standards of excellence and relentless
commitment to accesso.
As we look ahead, we are hopeful that our market is maintaining flexibility to
respond to changes in guest behaviour. We know that our evolved product set,
now incorporating accesso Horizon, accesso Freedom(sm), and accesso
Paradox(sm), stand as benchmarks across the sectors we serve. Our balance
sheet also remains strong following another year of cash generation. Our cash
generated from operating activities, prior to working capital movements and
tax payments, was $25.7m, an increase of 8.0% on 2023's $23.8m. We remain in a
net cash position with significant liquidity, both through existing cash
resources and available committed banking facilities. We have an unmatched
product set, robust expertise across our team, and a wide range of global
opportunities to power us towards accelerated growth. We are working every day
with a sharp focus towards enhancing our rate of revenue growth and to
optimise our bottom-line performance.
Financial performance
Group revenue for 2024 was $152.3m (FY 2023: $149.5m), representing growth of
1.9% year-over-year. Adjusting for the decision to step away from $3.3m
pass-through revenue from a large virtual queuing customer, the Group's
revenue growth was approximately 4.2%. Adjusting further for the impact of the
decision to exit the Group's B2C business in May 2024 (B2C revenue 2024:
$0.5m, 2023: $2.0m) this growth rate would have been 5.3%. This year was the
last in which the impact of this proactive step will be present in our results
and from now on, we will see even further benefit from our increasingly
focused, visible, sustainable and high-quality revenue profile.
For 2024, Cash EBITDA was $22.8m (FY 2023: $23.6m), being delivered at a
margin of 15% on revenue, ahead of our revised expectations of between 13% and
14%. We have also continued paying down debt related to the three acquisitions
we made in 2023, and after having bought back $8.1m of shares during the
period, we finished the year with a net cash balance of $28.7m.
Market backdrop and demand environment
During 2024, economic conditions were demanding for our customers. While the
venues we serve - mostly local and regional rather than international - are to
some extent insulated from major swings in consumer confidence, overall
transaction volumes are still impacted by the prevailing mood. This year, the
most pronounced volume effects surfaced during the peak North American summer
trading months, leaving operators with limited time to react with revised
strategies to increase demand. The lower than anticipated transactional
revenue across the summer period contributed to the need to revise our
expectations downward for the year. Despite falling short of our original
anticipated uptick in volume, full year transactional revenue increased 2.5%.
While our ability to deliver on our revised 2024 expectations reflected a
solidifying demand picture during the latter part of the year and strong
performance in the final quarter, the picture as we enter 2025 is complex.
With US tariff policy continuing to evolve and international responses still
taking shape, we have limited visibility on how consumers will react -
particularly in the key summer trading months still to come. As such, we are
urging prudence at this stage. We know our customers continue to invest in
demand generation strategies from marketing to capital investments in new
attractions, and we also know the increasing diversification of our business
across end markets and geographies is key to our resilience. For example, we
have reported regularly on our progress in the ski industry and our expanding
footprint in the Middle East, both of which showcase the broadening of our
horizons into promising areas. Looking at our numbers, one can also see the
trend. In 2021, North America represented 79% of our Group revenue. This
proportion has declined consistently year over year, and today North America
represents 61% of a considerably larger total. We are confident this footing
will enable us to continue delivering revenue and profit despite the uncertain
times.
Customer success with new propositions gaining traction
The robustness of our pipeline also gives us confidence in the ongoing
durability of our proposition, and our belief was reinforced by our continued
new business success during the year. Despite the market conditions we
maintained our pace from 2023, beating our 28 wins from last year with 30 new
venues signed across attractions, fairs & festivals, live entertainment,
ski resorts, stadia and more.
As announced in March 2024, one of our most important wins from the period was
a landmark agreement with Saudi Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN), a wholly owned
subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF). Our agreement
anticipates we will serve 21 cutting-edge entertainment destinations across 14
cities, featuring over 150 attractions, diverse dining outlets, local and
international retail outlets. It's a groundbreaking project in a key growth
region for our business and its scale and scope represents a major vote of
confidence in the quality of our accesso Horizon(sm) product.
Most recently, we have further expanded our presence in the Middle East with a
significant win. Qiddiya, which includes Six Flags Saudi Arabia and Aqua
Arabia water park, has signed to implement accesso Horizon as its core
ticketing and entitlement management solution. This agreement, for the
region's signature development, represents another milestone in our global
expansion and highlights the demand for our enterprise solutions in emerging
entertainment hubs. For the full year we expect revenues of approximately $2m
to come from key Middle Eastern customers.
Throughout 2024, we continued to see strong customer adoption of our
solutions, particularly with accesso Freedom, which demonstrated its
versatility across multiple verticals. It secured 11 new contract wins,
including 7 existing customers expanding their relationships and 4 brand-new
customers adopting the solution. Of the 11 new wins, the mix of new deals - 6
in the ski sector and 5 in attractions - underscored the strength of accesso
Freedom as a cross-vertical product, enhancing our total addressable market by
offering a highly adaptable and integrated solution.
Among the new accesso Freedom customers, Morgan's Wonderland, CaliBunga San
Jose, SkyPark at Santa's Village, and SplashDown Beach represent key wins
where the integrated combination of accesso Freedom alongside accesso Passport
and accesso Siriusware has proven to be a compelling proposition. These new
customers highlight the growing demand for a seamless and scalable solution
that delivers operational efficiency and enhanced guest experiences across
different types of venues. We stand out as the clear market leader with the
most comprehensive and highest quality product offering to our end markets.
accesso's robust product offering, along with the credibility of serving our
blue-chip customer base is simply unmatched.
Beyond accesso Freedom, we secured other notable customer successes during the
year. Little Lion Entertainment, which operates Crystal Maze and other UK
attractions, selected accesso Passport to support its operations. Sundance Ski
Resort, Cleveland Zoo, Vancouver Zoo and the recently opened National Medal of
Honor Museum also signed on as new customers, further expanding our presence
across a diverse range of venue types. A new signature attraction in Las Vegas
being developed by one of our blue-chip customers was also a notable win for
accesso Horizon, reinforcing its appeal for high-profile entertainment
destinations. The confidence this operator places in the solution based upon
the success of the solution at their theme parks in Asia reinforces the
quality and differentiation of accesso Horizon.
Laser-focus on operational excellence
Our Cash EBITDA margin of 15.0% in 2024 is reflective of our continued focus
on driving operational efficiency in our business. As we said at the time of
our August 2024 Trading Statement, we have been taking a number of steps to
manage cost in the face of our lower revenue expectation. Initiatives in this
area include maintaining operating leverage through strategic headcount
management, with total headcount decreasing slightly from 691 at the end of
2023 to 682 at the end of 2024. We have managed to achieve this balance
without sacrificing hiring for open positions in key areas or impacting our
product roadmap. Rather, when attrition has occurred, we have been highly
selective in deciding whether to backfill roles and, if so, where to
reallocate resources most effectively. For example, in cases where an
engineering role was vacated, the strength of our current product offering
means that in the near-term, we have chosen to reallocate headcount to
commercial functions that better align with our strategic priorities around
revenue growth. In terms of gaining operational efficiency, our engineering
teams are implementing AI tooling where applicable to increase output and
accelerate innovation.
Additionally, we continue to drive savings though our technology footprint,
with cloud hosting costs decreasing compared to 2023. This reduction was
driven by engineering-led efficiency efforts. Our technology teams have
focused on optimising infrastructure utilisation, ensuring that we continue to
deliver high levels of performance while reducing overhead costs.
Continuing our focus on identifying opportunities to improve performance, we
have made significant changes to our Ingresso business that have led it to a
notable upturn in performance. Following a strategic review, a range of
opportunities were identified and action taken to address each of those. We
made the decision to exit the B2C business which operated at breakeven,
renegotiated key customer agreements, and recruited a new Managing Director
with highly relevant experience to lead the Group. I am proud of the results
of the team's efforts and have confidence we will continue to see improvement
in the profitability of Ingresso as we move forward. Ultimately, we have a
real opportunity to increase value in this area given the potential for
distribution - a differentiator for accesso against competition - to play an
important role as a lever for us in new business negotiations across our
product set.
Despite the breadth of our activity, I still believe we can drive a faster
pace and make a deeper impact on new business. As such, a review of our
go-to-market approach became a critical and obvious strategic opportunity. At
the start of 2025 we initiated a restructure of our go-to-market approach. As
accesso has expanded in scale, and solutions offered, we need to also adjust
the scale and structure of our commercial approach. Shifting staffing to the
commercial team to more sufficiently cover the global range of our target
markets along with revised marketing efforts to generate new leads will more
appropriately align our business for driving growth via new customers. With
the benefit of our wide-ranging product set also comes the complexity of
organising and implementing efforts to sell across our end markets and
geographies. Recruitment of a new senior leader is underway to bring in a
fresh set of eyes, and along with revised resource allocation and new
marketing strategies we intend to increase our sales pace, efficiency and
impact.
People and culture
In 2024 we maintained strong staff engagement scores, with an impressive 95%
participation rate in our annual survey. Our overall engagement score of 4.1
benchmarks at the 75(th) percentile for similarly sized companies in the tech
industry, reflecting a highly engaged workforce that remains motivated and
connected to our mission.
Employee retention remained stable, with a voluntary turnover rate of 5%,
broadly consistent with 2023. This underscores our ability to attract and
retain top talent in a competitive labour market. We were particularly proud
to launch our first-ever Emerging Leader programme, an interactive, virtual
leadership development initiative designed to support new and aspiring leaders
within the business. The programme consists of two cohorts, each with 25
employees from across the company, providing participants with key leadership
skills, mentorship opportunities, and a strong foundation for career
progression.
As we continue to expand and evolve as a business, investing in our people
remains a core priority. We recognise that our team's resilience and expertise
are integral to our success, and we will continue to provide the support,
resources and development opportunities needed to empower them in the years
ahead.
Outlook
Our outlook for 2025 is informed by our view of a market in which operators
were already adjusting to persistent macroeconomic challenges and are now
contending with additional uncertainty related to US trade policy around
tariffs. While overall demand for our technology solutions remains strong,
visitor attendances are now more difficult to predict for the remainder of the
year.
At the same time, our customers are working diligently on marketing plans and
will typically make promotion and pricing adjustments to balance demand if
warranted. Additionally, the diversification of our revenue base and the
relative resilience of our local and regional customer base will continue to
work in our favour. As a result, we believe our business is well positioned to
withstand impacts from macroeconomic pressures.
Taking these various dynamics in hand, we think it best to take a prudent
approach to our guidance for 2025. For revenue, growth is unlikely to exceed
the effective 5.3% reported in 2024. On profit, our ability to manage
profitability while investing in strategic growth areas gives us confidence
that we can deliver a Cash EBITDA margin in line with or slightly ahead of
current consensus for the year.
Finally, with approximately a third of Group revenue generated in currencies
other than US dollars, we have developed our outlook while recognising that
persistent volatility in exchange rates - particularly with respect to the
movement of the USD against the GBP and EUR - could affect our full year
outturn. The outlook we publish today is therefore put forward on the basis
that the current prevailing rates of GBPUSD $1.288 and EURUSD $1.077 continue
to hold through the remainder of the year.
Steve Brown
Chief Executive Officer
14 April 2025
Financial review
Matthew Boyle
Chief Financial Officer
"Our financial performance in 2024 showed the resilience of our business in a
challenging market. Despite economic uncertainty, we met our revised
expectations and maintained solid profitability. Moreover, our balance sheet
remains strong and we continue to operate the business with great precision
and control. The picture for 2025 is still crystallising at this stage of the
year but given the strength of our platform and our leading market position,
we are confident that we can continue to grow our business and deliver in line
with our guidance."
Revenue $000 2024 $152,291 Group revenue is 1.9% up on 2023 with Ticketing up 8.7%, Guest Experience down
7.9% and the Professional Services segment down 31.1%. Ticketing benefited
$152,291 from the full year impact of accesso Horizon and accesso Paradox while our
distribution business had a strong year following the signing of a large new
distributor in H2 2023.
Within Guest Experience, our queuing business saw the change in our labour
model with a significant customer resulting in a planned decrease in our
revenue. The revenue quality table below highlights $nil revenue from this
operation in 2024 (2023: $3.3m).
2023 $149,515
Cash EBITDA (1) $000 2024 $22,831 The Group delivered Cash EBITDA for the period of $22.8m, down 3.4% or $0.8m
on 2023. While gross profit increased 4.2% or $4.8m, underlying administrative
$22,831 expenses increased by 6.3% or $5.7m, outpacing the revenue and gross profit
growth. FY 2024 included a full year impact of costs from the three
acquisitions made in H1 2023 alongside continued inflationary pressure on
wages and services. The Group is continuing to robustly manage the cost base,
both through headcount stability and efficiencies.
Cash EBITDA, as a % of revenue, was 15.0% (2023: 15.8%).
Our business bears the consequences of a high level of operating leverage, and
our products and the associated cost base can scale to deliver increased
revenue with limited increases in headcount and related expenditure. Looking
ahead, as revenue grows against our full headcount, we look forward to our
Cash EBITDA margin % increasing.
2023 $23,626
Statutory profit before tax $000 2024 $11,681 Statutory profit before tax increased $2.9m or 32.6% on 2023.
$11,681 For the reasons explained above, EBITDA before exceptional items and
share-based payments declined $0.8m. In addition, there was an increase in the
share-based payment expense of $0.5m. These decreases to profit were offset by
a fall in exceptional items of $2.6m, with no acquisitions in the current year
compared to three in 2023. Further, there was also a fall in total
amortisation & depreciation expense of $2.1m, largely due to a number of
capitalised R&D projects becoming fully amortised in early 2024.
2023 $8,808
Net cash (2) $000 2024 $28,716 At 31 December 2024, the Group held $42.8m cash with net borrowings of $14.1m.
$28,716
During 2024, the Group spent $17.1m on financing activities which included
$8.1m on the repurchase and cancellation of accesso's own shares as well as
$6.5m repaid on the Group's revolving credit facility with HSBC.
2023 $31,465
Adjusted basic EPS (cents) (3) 2024 38.39 Adjusted basic earnings per share of 38.39 and basic earnings per share of
22.38 increased by 2.4% and 16.6% respectively.
38.39 cents
As with our Cash EBITDA margin, we look forward to both adjusted and basic
earnings per share increasing as our existing operational cost base is
leveraged to deliver revenue growth.
2023 37.48
Basic earnings per share (cents) 2024 22.38
22.38 cents
2023 19.19
Footnotes:
(1) Cash EBITDA: operating profit before the deduction of amortisation,
depreciation, acquisition, integration and disposal costs, and costs related
to share-based payments less capitalised development costs.
(2) Net cash is calculated as cash and cash equivalents less borrowings.
(3) Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated after adjusting operating
profit for impairment of intangible assets, amortisation on acquired
intangibles, acquisition, integration and disposal expenses and share-based
payments, net of tax at the effective rate for the period on the taxable
adjusted items (as detailed in note 11).
Key performance indicators and alternative performance measures
The Board continues to utilise consistent alternative performance measures
(APMs) internally and in evaluating and presenting the results of the
business. The Board views these APMs as representative of the Group's
underlying performance.
The historic strategy of enhancing accesso's technology offerings via
acquisitions, as well as an all-employee share option arrangement, necessitate
adjustments to statutory metrics to remove certain items which the Board does
not believe are reflective of the underlying business.
By consistently making these adjustments, the Group provides a better
period-to-period comparison and is more readily comparable against businesses
that do not have the same acquisition history and equity award policy.
APMs include Cash EBITDA, Adjusted basic EPS, net cash, underlying
administrative expenditure and repeatable and non-repeatable revenue analysis
and are defined as follows:
· Cash EBITDA is defined as operating profit before the deduction of
amortisation, impairment of intangible assets, depreciation, acquisition,
integration and disposal costs, and costs related to share-based payments less
capitalised internal development costs;
· Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated after adjusting operating
profit for impairment of intangible assets, amortisation on acquired
intangibles, acquisition, integration and disposal-related costs and
share-based payments, net of tax at the effective rate for the period on the
taxable adjusted items (see note 11);
· Net cash is defined as available cash less borrowings. Lease liabilities are
excluded from borrowings on the basis they do not represent a cash drawing;
· Underlying administrative expenses are administrative expenses adjusted to add
back the cost of capitalised development expenditure and property lease
payments and remove amortisation, impairment of intangible assets,
depreciation, acquisition costs, and costs related to share-based payments.
This measure is to identify and trend the underlying administrative cost
before these items;
· Repeatable revenue consists of transactional revenue from Virtual Queuing,
Ticketing and eCommerce and is defined as revenue earned as either a fixed
amount per sale of an item, such as a ticket sold by a customer or as a
percentage of revenue generated by a venue operator. Normally, this revenue is
repeatable where a multi-year agreement exists and purchasing patterns by
venue guests do not significantly change. Other repeatable revenue is defined
as revenue, excluding transactional revenue, that is expected to be earned
through a customer's agreement, without the need for additional sales
activity, such as maintenance and support revenue. Non-repeatable revenue is
revenue that occurs one-time (e.g. up-front licence fees) or is not repeatable
based upon the current agreement (e.g. billable professional services hours)
and is unlikely to be repeatable without additional successful sales execution
by accesso. Other revenue consists of hardware sales and other revenue that
may or may not be repeatable with limited sales activity if customer behaviour
remains consistent; and
· The revenue streams for year ended 31 December 2024 have been prepared on a
pro forma basis using consistent currency rates with the year ended 31
December 2023 to assist with assessing the underlying performance. Average
monthly rates from 2023 were used to translate the monthly 2024 results into a
constant currency using the range of currencies as set out below:
o GBP sterling - $1.21 - $1.29
o Euro - $1.06 - $1.11
o Canadian dollars - $0.73 - $0.76
o Australian dollars - $0.64 - $0.69
o Mexican pesos - $0.05 - $0.06
o Brazilian real - $0.19 - $0.21
o Singapore dollars - $0.73 - $0.75
o United Arab Emirates dirham - $0.27 - $0.27
The Group considers Cash EBITDA, which disregards any benefit to the income
statement of capitalised development expenditure, as its principal operating
metric.
These APMs should not be viewed in isolation but as supplementary information.
As adjusted results include the benefits of the Group's acquisition history
but exclude significant costs (such as significant legal or amortisation
expenditure), they should not be regarded as a complete picture of the Group's
financial performance, which is presented in its total results.
Key financial metrics
Revenue
The Group showed resilience to deliver revenue of $152.3 (2023: $149.5m) being
growth of 1.9% despite the Group facing multiple headwinds through the year.
As in the prior year, the Group derives 75% of revenue from transactional
sources, typically through % revenue share or usage arrangements with its SaaS
customers. Our early expectations for 2024, based both on our unique view into
customer plans and the strength of our sales pipeline, were that the year
would see growth consistent with that observed in the preceding few years. As
explained in August 2024, the Group noted that the growth in transactional
income, while still positive year over year, was behind our early outlook due
to slower attendance growth across our customer base. This was particularly in
the peak seasonal summer months, but continued through the remainder of 2024.
We set out details of our revenue by segment, geography and repeatable to
non-repeatable analysis below.
Revenue on a segmental basis was as follows:
2024 2023 Vs 2023
$000 $000 %
Ticketing 89,806 86,455 3.9%
Distribution 23,226 17,569 32.2%
Ticketing and distribution 113,032 104,024 8.7%
Virtual queuing - transactional revenue 25,705 25,754 (0.2%)
Virtual queuing - staffing cost reimbursement - 3,344 (100.0%)
Virtual queuing - hardware and other* 1,865 839 122.3%
Other guest experience* 3,893 4,238 (8.1%)
Guest experience 31,463 34,175 (7.9%)
Professional Services 7,796 11,316 (31.1%)
Total revenue 152,291 149,515 1.9%
*The Guest Experience segment has been restated to exclude Professional
Services that are not being provided in conjunction with one of our products.
The prior period Guest Experience revenue was $45.5m being the sum of the
Guest Experience and Professional Services 2023 amounts. The Other Guest
Experience comprises revenue from accesso's mobile application platforms and
accesso Freedom.
Ticketing and Distribution:
Ticketing and Distribution revenue was 8.7% up on 2023. Within Ticketing this
includes the benefit of a full year of accesso Horizon and accesso Paradox
revenue, which together contributed $4.8m increase compared to the prior year.
accesso Passport's continued growth, driven by transactional income,
contributed $1.2m revenue growth compared to the prior period. Offsetting this
growth was a decrease of $1.7m in accesso Siriusware, as new term licence
sales slowed, and $0.9m decrease in accesso ShoWare.
The lower-than-expected transactional revenue has a knock-on impact on our
sales lead time, as operators delay software implementation decisions on the
back of flat attendances. We noted this lead time extending through H2 2024
and expect this will continue through 2025.
The distribution business had a particularly strong year following a full year
of contribution from a large new distributor signed in H2 2023 as well as
continued penetration in the Group's wider customer base. This growth is even
more pronounced considering the decision in May 2024 to exit the B2C division
of our distribution business which operated with minimal profit contribution.
This division contributed revenues of $2.0m in 2023 and $0.5m during the
period of operation in 2024.
Guest Experience
Within the Guest Experience segment, accesso LoQueue's transactional-based
revenue was flat on 2023 despite the attendances at venues in which it
operates predominately being down compared to 2023. We are continuing to work
with operators to maximise the guest penetration and pricing optimisation of
the queuing product which ensures that the revenue remains resilient despite
attendance pressures.
The Group typically has bi-annual hardware orders from a blue-chip customer
for the accesso Prism device which drove the 122.3% growth shown in the table
below.
Virtual queuing revenue:
2024 2023 Vs 2023
$000 $000 %
Virtual queuing - transactional revenue 25,705 25,754 (0.2%)
Virtual queuing - hardware and other 1,865 839 122.3%
Virtual queuing - staffing cost reimbursement - 3,344 (100.0%)
Queuing 27,570 29,937 (7.9%)
Other Guest Experience
The Other Guest Experience line comprises revenue from accesso's mobile
application platforms, TE2 and WayMiGo, and accesso Freedom. This revenue
decreased $0.3m (8.2%) on 2024 driven largely by an anticipated decline in
legacy support contracts for the retail, food & beverage intellectual
property acquired in July 2022. Pleasingly, the Group signed 11 (7 existing
and 4 new to the Group) customers to the accesso Freedom platform which we
expect to grow in 2025 and increase our transactional revenue as a proportion
of the overall total income.
Professional Services:
As flagged in our Interim Statement, for the current period we have split
revenues generated within The Experience Engine(TM) (TE2) between platform
fees, which remain in the Guest Experience segment, in the 'Other Guest
Experience' line referenced above, and the delivery of bespoke Professional
Services to large customers in the ski, theme park, and cruise ship markets,
which move to a separate Professional Services segment.
Our Professional Services segment revenues cover those that are not associated
with a particular product. As a key technology infrastructure partner, large
attraction and leisure operators look to us to provide support for their own
internal project cycles. We realise that this element of our business will
fluctuate year over year, however, we are positioned to take the opportunities
when they arise. In 2024, Professional Services revenues were down an expected
$3.5m (31.1%) reflecting anticipated project fluctuations with two of our
larger customers when compared to 2023.
Revenue on a geographic and segmental basis was as follows:
2024 2023
Primary geographic markets Ticketing Guest Professional Services Ticketing Guest Professional Services***
and Experience Group and Experience*** Group
Distribution Distribution**
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
UK 29,274 3,287 - 32,561 25,295 3,286 - 28,581
Other Europe 3,400 5,192 33 8,625 2,139 5,776 - 7,915
Middle East* 2,268 - - 2,268 1,109 - - 1,109
Australia/South Pacific/Other Asia/Africa* 9,687 1,654 - 11,341 7,660 1,854 - 9,514
USA 59,427 20,843 7,734 88,004 59,098 22,808 11,290 93,196
Canada 5,191 292 - 5,483 4,270 266 - 4,536
Mexico 2,911 195 29 3,135 3,550 185 26 3,761
Other Central and South America 874 - - 874 903 - - 903
113,032 31,463 7,796 152,291 104,024 34,175 11,316 149,515
*This disclosure has been enhanced to present disaggregated revenue for the
Middle East in the comparative period. The Middle East was previously
presented aggregated within Australia/South Pacific/Other Asia/Africa as a
total of $10.5m.
**This disclosure has been restated for the year ended 31 December 2023 to
present distribution revenue by country of the venue rather than country of
distributor (i.e. where the venue is located rather than the location of the
distributor where the ticket was sold). This reclassification aligns
distribution revenue more closely to the presentation of accesso's other
products, where the primary market relates to the location of the venue or
event.
***The Guest Experience segment has been restated to exclude Professional
Services that are not being provided in conjunction with one of our products.
The prior period Guest Experience revenue was $45.5m being the sum of the
Guest Experience and Professional Services 2023 amounts.
Our growth in the UK arose due to the strong performance of the Ingresso
distributions business discussed earlier in this report. We also saw strong
growth in APAC as a result of the completion of accesso Horizon
implementations in the region, across both Japan and Australia.
Our US business fell $5.2m (5.6%), $3.3m of which was driven by the removal of
the seasonal staffing pass-through revenue. The remaining decrease was driven
by accesso Siriusware, accesso ShoWare and Professional Services whose
movements are each referenced earlier in this report.
The increase in both our Middle East and Canadian business reflects the full
year impact of the accesso Horizon and accesso Paradox acquisitions
respectively.
Revenue Quality
2024 2023*
$000 $000 %
Virtual queuing - transactional 25,705 25,754 (0.2%)
Virtual queuing - staffing cost reimbursement - 3,344 (100.0%)
Ticketing and eCommerce 65,756 65,207 0.8%
Distribution* 23,226 17,569 32.2%
Transactional revenue 114,687 111,874 2.5%
Maintenance and support 10,187 9,338 9.1%
Platform fees 3,164 3,352 (5.6%)
Recurring licence revenue 2,232 1,505 48.3%
Total repeatable 130,270 126,069 3.3%
One-time licence revenue 2,550 2,881 (11.5%)
Professional services 13,123 15,536 (15.5%)
Non-repeatable revenue 15,673 18,417 (14.9%)
Hardware 2,179 1,533 42.1%
Other 4,169 3,496 19.3%
Other revenue 6,348 5,029 26.2%
Total revenue 152,291 149,515 1.9%
Total repeatable as % of total 85.5% 84.3%
*The prior year comparative has been enhanced to split out distribution
revenue from Ticketing and eCommerce transactional revenue. These were
previously presented as an aggregated total of $82.8m for the year ending 31
December 2023.
The above is an analysis of the Group's revenue by type. Transactional revenue
consisting of Virtual Queuing, Ticketing and eCommerce, and Distribution is
defined as revenue earned as either a fixed amount per sale of an item, such
as a ticket sold by a customer, or as a percentage of revenue generated by a
venue operator. Normally, this revenue is repeatable where a multi-year
agreement exists and purchasing patterns by venue guests do not significantly
change.
The Group's transactional revenue streams saw growth of $2.8m (2.5%) or $6.2m
(5.7%) excluding the seasonal staffing pass through revenue. The distribution
business contributed $5.7m of this growth, with ticketing contributing $0.5m
and transactional queuing revenue being flat on 2023.
Other repeatable revenue is defined as revenue, excluding transactional
revenue, that is expected to be earned through each year of a customer's
agreement, without the need for additional sales activity, such as maintenance
and support revenue. The increases in these line items over 2024 reflect the
full year impact of the accesso Horizon acquisition which operates a licence
and support model, typically for Enterprise level customers.
Non-repeatable revenue is revenue that occurs one-time (e.g. up-front licence
fees) or is not repeatable based upon the current agreement (e.g. billable
professional services hours) and is unlikely to be repeatable without
additional successful sales execution by accesso.
Other revenue consists of hardware sales and other revenue that may or may not
be repeatable with limited sales activity if customer behaviour remains
consistent.
Other revenues increased by $1.3m (26.2%). This was driven by a $0.6m increase
in hardware sales in the accesso Prism as well as $0.7m increase in Other
revenues. These 'Other' revenues are commissions received from the Group's
guest ticket insurance partners as well as third-party hardware partners.
Other revenue also includes referral commissions received from the Group's
guest payment gateway partners.
Gross margin
The Group's reported gross profit margin increased again to 78.1% (2023:
76.4%) which reflects the full year removal of the season staffing revenue.
The Group continues to focus on the quality of revenue and the improvement of
our gross profit and Cash EBITDA margins in the medium to long term.
Our distribution business, focused on B2B, continues to be a key part of our
service offering however, due to the accounting standards covering revenue
recognition, our margins in this business will always be significantly lower
than the rest of our revenue streams. These revenue recognition standards
require us to recognise the full amount of commission included within the
gross value of a ticket sold as our revenue, with the larger portion of this
commission paid to the distributor as our cost of goods sold. Under such
arrangements, the Group typically receives the face value of the ticket and
remits this to the distributor and venue as pass-through cash. The receivables
and payables due are included gross within the balance sheet as trade debtors
and trade payables respectively. Gross profit and Cash EBIDTA margins would
have been 88.4% and 17.0% (2023: Gross margin 83.4%, Cash EBITDA margin 17.3%)
if we were permitted to recognise net commission as our revenue.
Administrative expenses
Reported administrative expenses increased by 1.5% to $105.8m in the year,
while underlying administrative expenditure increased by 6.3% to $97.0m. This
increase includes the full year impact of the 82 new headcount joining the
business from the three acquisitions completed in late H1 2023 from both a
staff cost perspective as well as other expenses such as rent and travel.
Excluding these acquisitions underlying overheads remained flat on 2023, with
$0.3m increase (0.3%) as a result of a continued focus on efficiency with a
diligent approach to cost control.
Amortisation from acquired intangibles increased to $4.2m because of a full
year impact of the acquired intangibles from 2023. Amortisation and
depreciation related to all other assets decreased to $4.3m from $7.8m due to
much of the capitalised Research & Development spend becoming full
amortised in 2023 and early 2024.
Share-based payment costs increased by 16.3% to $3.7m, reflective of a full
year impact of key management incentive arrangements being granted in 2023 to
retain key staff following the acquisitions as well as additional charges
related to senior staff changes during 2024.
2024 2023
$000 $000
Administrative expenses as reported 105,847 104,308
Capitalised development expenditure (1) 2,633 2,839
Amortisation related to acquired intangibles (4,212) (2,811)
Share-based payments (3,705) (3,187)
Amortisation and depreciation (2) (4,259) (7,832)
Property lease payments not in administrative expense (1) 839 668
Impairment of intangible assets - (6)
Acquisition, integration and disposal expenses (127) (2,690)
Underlying administrative expenditure 97,016 91,289
(1) See consolidated cash flow statement.
(2) This excludes acquired intangibles but includes depreciation on right
of use assets.
Cash EBITDA
The Group delivered Cash EBITDA for the year of $22.8m, a 3.4% reduction on
2023. Cash EBITDA margin was 15.0% in 2024 (2023: 15.8%).
The table below sets out a reconciliation between statutory operating profit
and Cash EBITDA:
2024 2023
$000 $000
Operating profit 13,161 9,939
Add: acquisition, integration and disposal expenses 127 2,690
Add: Amortisation related to acquired intangibles 4,212 2,811
Add: Share-based payments 3,705 3,187
Add: Impairment of intangibles - 6
Add: Amortisation and depreciation (excluding acquired intangibles) 4,259 7,832
Deduct: Capitalised internal development costs (2,633) (2,839)
Cash EBITDA 22,831 23,626
The Group recorded an operating profit of $13.2m in 2024 (2023: $9.9m); and
adjusted basic earnings per share increased to 38.39 cents (2023: 37.48
cents).
Development expenditure
2024 2023*
$000 $000
Total development expenditure 44,785 44,145
% of total revenue 29.4% 29.5%
*Development expenditure for the period ended 31 December 2023 has been
restated to exclude $4.4m relating to product delivery which was previously
categorised within development.
Our total development expenditure for 2024 remained flat on 2023 at $44.8m,
being 29.4% of revenue (2023: 29.5%), 1.4% higher than 2023. The spend
continues to include investment in accesso Freedom of $2.4m (2023: $3.3m), our
retail, food and beverage product launched in Q4 2023. During 2025 we see this
product entering the next phase of its life cycle and moving toward a
breakeven contribution, through increased customers and a reduction in the
development overhead.
Development expenditure represents all expenses incurred by the Group's
Engineering and Product Management functions, predominantly comprising payroll
and software-related costs. These functions maintain our existing solutions
and work with our customers to ensure the Group's products are well positioned
to meet customer needs. In addition, these functions also perform research and
development activities based on the product roadmaps, which set out the
planned features and releases over time.
The Group capitalises elements of development expenditure where it is
appropriate and in accordance with IAS 38 Intangible Assets. Capitalised
development expenditure of $2.6m (2023: $2.8m) represents 5.9% (2023: 6.4%) of
total development expenditure. The Group's research and development is
primarily focused on constant and iterative improvement of existing customer
products, which in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and
retention, rather than a focus on creating new revenue streams. It continues
to be critical in order to continue to meet and exceed the expectations of our
existing customers' requirements and the current solutions they utilise.
Development continues to expand the product set and add features that will be
important for our customers' operations in the future.
Cash and net cash
Net cash at the end of the year has decreased to $28.7m from $31.5m at 31
December 2023.
2024 2023
$000 $000
Cash in hand & at bank 42,769 51,814
Less: Borrowings (including capitalised finance costs) (14,053) (20,349)
Net cash 28,716 31,465
Less: pass-through cash* (2,841) (7,506)
Adjusted net cash 25,875 23,959
*Pass-through cash is received from ticket distributors representing the gross
value of a ticket sold via the Group's distribution platform, Ingresso, and
its 'collect and remit' business in Mexico. This cash is payable to
attractions and venues and does not form part of Group revenue.
The Group has maintained a strong net cash position with net cash inflow from
operating activities, prior to working capital movements, of $25.7m (2023:
$23.8m). The Group had a total working capital outflow for the year of $10.9m
(2023: inflow of $3.9m). The working capital outflow was driven by an
increased level of year end trade, particularly in our distribution business
that operates a 'collect and remit' business model, receiving the face value
of a ticket purchase and remitting to both the distributor and venue. This
dynamic combined with the timing of larger annual supplier renewal invoices
being settled prior to the year-end resulted in the overall working capital
outflow. Net cash flow from operating activities was $12.1m (2023: $25.6m).
Net cash outflows from investing activities were $2.4m, comprised largely of
$2.6m capitalised development spend (2023: $2.8m), offset by interest income
of $0.8m (2023: $0.8m).
The Group had an outflow of $17.1m from financing activities (2023: inflow of
$12.5m). This included outflows of $8.1m on the purchase and cancellation of
accesso's own shares through the buyback programme as well as a repayment of
$6.5m on the Group's revolving credit facility.
On 26 May 2023, the Group secured a $40.0m revolving credit facility with a
four-year term, to May 2027, accompanied by a $20.0m accordion option. As at
31 December 2024, the Group had drawn $14.75m ($14.1m net of finance costs)
(31 December 2023: gross borrowing $21.25m).
The Group continues to hold a strong balance sheet with a net cash position of
$36.2m at 31 March 2025.
Dividend and share repurchases
The Board continuously evaluates capital allocation decisions and holds the
view surplus cash is most effectively used in share repurchases or special
dividends, strategic product development or, where the opportunities arise,
value accretive acquisitions.
During the year, the Group operated two share repurchase programmes, both with
a value of up to GBP £4.0m. The first programme commenced in October 2023 and
concluded in February 2024 with a total repurchase and cancellation of 706,984
shares for a total consideration of $5.0m (GBP £4.0m). The second programme
commenced in August 2024 and concluded in November 2024 with a total of
757,847 shares being repurchased for a total of $5.3m (GBP £4.0m). In total,
during 2024, the Group repurchased and cancelled 1,165,559 shares for a total
of $8.1m (GBP £6.2m). At the prior year end, the Group had repurchased and
cancelled 299,272 shares for a total of $2.2m (GBP £1.8m).
Today, we are also announcing a further share repurchase programme of up to
GBP £8.0m ($10.3m) to be executed over the remainder of 2025.
Impairment
In line with relevant accounting standards, the Group reviews the carrying
value of all intangible assets on an annual basis or at the interim where
indicators of impairment exist. No impairment charges were recognised in the
year.
Taxation
The tax charge of $2.6m represents an effective tax rate on the $11.7m of
statutory profit before tax of 22.2% (2023: 12.72%).
The key reconciling items to the Group's weighted average tax rate of 27.36%
are: a net $0.3m reduction relating to the adjustment of R&D estimates
from the prior period and the utilisation of R&D credits during the year,
a further net reduction of $0.9m in relation to expenses not deductible for
tax purposes, adjustments in respect of prior periods and share awards. These
reductions were offset by $0.6m of increased tax due to the impact of rate
changes on our deferred tax positions.
Matthew Boyle
Chief Financial Officer
14 April 2025
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the financial year ended 31 December 2024
2024 2023
Notes $000 $000
Revenue 8 152,291 149,515
Cost of sales (33,283) (35,268)
Gross profit 119,008 114,247
(105,847) (104,308)
Administrative expenses
Operating profit before exceptional items 13,288 12,635
Acquisition, integration and disposal-related expenditure (127) (2,690)
Impairment of intangible assets - (6)
Operating profit 13,161 9,939
Finance expense 9 (2,319) (2,084)
Finance income 9 839 953
Profit before tax 11,681 8,808
Income tax expense 10 (2,598) (1,116)
Profit for the period 9,083 7,692
Other comprehensive income
Items that will be reclassified to income statement
Exchange differences on translating foreign operations (1,789) 3,138
(1,789) 3,138
Total comprehensive income 7,294 10,830
All profit and comprehensive income is attributable to the owners of the
parent
Earnings per share expressed in cents per share:
Basic 11 22.38 19.19
Diluted 11 21.82 18.67
All activities of the Company are classified as continuing.
Consolidated statement of financial position
as at 31 December 2024
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Registered Number: 03959429
Notes $000 $000
Assets
Non-current assets
Intangible assets 12 159,639 165,188
Property, plant and equipment 13 882 1,346
Right of use assets 1,341 1,609
Contract assets 8 763 784
Deferred tax assets 10 15,039 16,703
177,664 185,630
Current assets
Inventories 152 1,115
Finance lease receivables - 165
Contract assets 8 2,805 3,345
Trade and other receivables 38,327 29,700
Income tax receivable 1,662 2,199
Cash and cash equivalents 42,769 51,814
85,715 88,338
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 30,325 34,939
Lease liabilities 529 792
Contract liabilities 8 7,265 7,353
Income tax payable 5,463 6,115
43,582 49,199
Net current assets 42,133 39,139
Non-current liabilities
Deferred tax liabilities 10 7,155 8,821
Contract liabilities 8 492 927
Other non-current liabilities 365 -
Lease liabilities 893 1,177
Borrowings 14 14,053 20,349
22,958 31,274
Total liabilities 66,540 80,473
Net assets 196,839 193,495
Shareholders' equity
Called up share capital 15 592 603
Share premium 154,370 153,948
Retained earnings 31,797 31,196
Merger relief reserve 19,641 19,641
Translation reserve (4,235) (2,446)
Own shares held in trust (5,345) (9,451)
Capital Redemption Reserve 19 4
Total shareholders' equity 196,839 193,495
Consolidated statement of cash flow
for the financial year ended 31 December 2024
2024 2023
Notes $000 $000
Cash flows from operations
Profit for the period 9,083 7,692
Adjustments for:
Depreciation (excluding leased assets) 13 863 975
Depreciation on leased assets 613 467
Amortisation on acquired intangibles 12 4,212 2,811
Amortisation on development costs and other intangibles 12 2,783 6,390
Impairment of intangibles 12 - 6
(Gain)/loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment (5) 207
Share-based payment 3,705 3,187
Movement on bad debt provision 454 41
Finance expense 9 2,319 2,084
Finance income 9 (839) (953)
Foreign exchange gain (44) (187)
Income tax expense 10 2,598 1,116
25,742 23,836
Decrease/(increase) in inventories 962 (614)
(Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables (8,932) 2,082
Decrease in contract assets/contract liabilities 116 1,960
(Decrease)/increase in trade and other payables (3,089) 432
Cash generated from operations 14,799 27,696
Tax paid (2,747) (2,003)
Net cash inflow from operating activities 12,052 25,693
Cash flows from investing activities
Acquisition of VGS companies (net of cash acquired) - (39,323)
Acquisition of Paradocs Solutions, Inc. (net of cash acquired) - (8,845)
Acquisition of Boxer Consulting Limited (net of cash acquired) (96) (1,792)
Capitalised internal development costs 12 (2,633) (2,839)
Purchase of intangible assets 12 - (14)
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (420) (638)
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment 8 8
Interest received 791 805
Net cash (used in) investing activities (2,350) (52,638)
Cash flows from financing activities
Share issue 3 129
Purchase of shares held in trust - (3,676)
Purchase of own shares for cancellation (8,094) (2,186)
Interest paid (1,674) (1,387)
Payments on property lease liabilities (1,000) (668)
Proceeds from property lease receivables 161 33
Cash paid to refinance (44) (1,040)
Proceeds from borrowings 14 - 35,000
Repayments of borrowings 14 (6,500) (13,750)
Net cash (utilised in)/generated from financing activities (17,148) 12,455
(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (7,446) (14,490)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 51,814 64,663
Exchange (loss)/gain on cash and cash equivalents (1,599) 1,641
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 42,769 51,814
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the financial year ended 31 December 2024
Share capital Share premium Retained Merger relief reserve Own shares held in trust Capital redemption reserve Translation reserve Total
earnings
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Balance at 1 January 2024 603 153,948 31,196 19,641 (9,451) 4 (2,446) 193,495
Comprehensive income for the year
Profit for period - - 9,083 - - - - 9,083
Other comprehensive income
Exchange differences on translating foreign operations - - - - - - (1,789) (1,789)
Total comprehensive income for the year - - 9,083 - - - (1,789) 7,294
Issue of share capital 3 - (1) - - - - 2
Settlement of share options through Employee Benefit Trust - - (4,090) - 4,106 - - 16
Share-based payments - - 3,675 - - - - 3,675
Share option tax charge - current - - 317 - - - - 317
Share option tax charge - deferred - - (289) - - - - (289)
Re-purchase of shares for cancellation (15) - (8,094) - - 15 - (8,094)
Contingent consideration settled in shares 1 422 - - - - - 423
Total contributions by and distributions by owners (11) 422 (8,482) - 4,106 15 - (3,950)
Balance at 31 December 2024 592 154,370 31,797 19,641 (5,345) 19 (4,235) 196,839
Balance at 1 January 2023 597 153,621 22,887 19,641 (5,775) - (5,584) 185,387
Comprehensive income for the year
Profit for period - - 7,692 - - - - 7,692
Other comprehensive income
Exchange differences on translating foreign operations - - - - - - 3,138 3,138
Total comprehensive income for the year - - 7,692 - - - 3,138 10,830
Contributions by and distributions to owners
Issue of share capital 9 120 - - - - - 129
Share-based payments - - 3,187 - - - - 3,187
Share option tax charge - current - - 894 - - - - 894
Share option tax charge - deferred - - (1,274) - - - - (1,274)
Re-purchase of shares to be held in trust - - - - (3,676) - - (3,676)
Re-purchase of shares for cancellation (4) - (2,190) - - 4 - (2,190)
Contingent consideration settled in shares 1 207 - - - - - 208
Total contributions by and distributions by owners 6 327 617 - (3,676) 4 - (2,722)
Balance at 31 December 2023 603 153,948 31,196 19,641 (9,451) 4 (2,446) 193,495
1. Reporting entity
accesso Technology Group plc is a public limited company incorporated in the
United Kingdom, whose shares are publicly traded on the AIM market. The
Company is domiciled in the United Kingdom and its registered address is Unit
5, The Pavilions, Ruscombe Park, Twyford, Berkshire RG10 9NN. These
consolidated financial statements comprise the Company and its subsidiaries
(together referred to as the "Group").
The Group's principal activities are the development and application of
ticketing, mobile and eCommerce technologies, licensing and operation of
virtual queuing solutions and providing a personalised experience to customers
within the attractions and leisure industry. The eCommerce technologies are
generally licensed to operators of venues, enabling the online sale of
tickets, guest management, and point-of-sale ("POS") transactions. The virtual
queuing solutions and personalised experience platforms are installed by the
Group at a venue, and managed and operated by the Group directly or licensed
to the operator for their operation.
Exemption from audit
For the years ended 31 December 2024 and 2023, accesso Technology Group plc
has provided a guarantee in respect of all liabilities due by its subsidiaries
Ingresso Group Limited (company number 07477714) and Lo-Q Limited (company
number 08760856). This entitles them to exemption from audit under 479A of the
Companies Act 2006 relating to subsidiary companies.
2. Basis of accounting
The preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2024 and the results
for the year ended 31 December 2023 are prepared under UK-adopted
international accounting standards ("UK-adopted IFRS") and applicable law.
The accounting policies adopted in this preliminary announcement are
consistent with the Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2024.
The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company's
statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December 2024 or 2023 but is derived
from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2023 have been delivered to the
registrar of companies, and those for 2024 will be delivered in due course.
The auditor has reported on those accounts; their reports were (i)
unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the
auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and
(iii) did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the
Companies Act 2006.
While the financial information included in this announcement has been
prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of
UK-adopted IFRS, this announcement does not itself contain sufficient
information to comply with UK-adopted IFRS.
The consolidated Group financial statements were authorised for issue by the
Company's Board of Directors on 14 April 2025.
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the historical
cost basis except for contingent consideration and acquired intangible assets
arising on business combinations, which are measured at fair value.
Details of the Group's accounting policies are included in notes 3 and 4.
3. Changes to significant accounting policies
Other new standards and improvements
Other than as described below, the accounting policies, presentation and
methods of calculation adopted are consistent with those of the Annual Report
and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023, apart from standards,
amendments to or interpretations of published standards adopted during the
period.
The following standards, interpretations and amendments to existing standards
are now effective and have been adopted by the Group. The impacts of applying
these policies are not considered material:
§ Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS
1)
§ Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback (Amendments to IFRS 16)
§ Supplier Finance Arrangements (Amendments to IAS 7 and IFRS 7)
§ Non-current Liabilities with Covenants (Amendments to IAS 1)
New standards and interpretations not yet adopted
A number of new standards, amendments to standards, and interpretations are
either not effective for 2024 or not relevant to the Group, and therefore have
not been applied in preparing these accounts. These standards, amendments or
interpretations are not expected to have a material impact on the entity in
the current or future reporting periods and on foreseeable future
transactions.
§ Lack of Exchangeability (Amendments to IAS 21)
§ Amendments to the Classification and Measurement of Financial Instruments
(Amendments to IFRS 9 and 7)
§ IFRS 18 'Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements'
§ IFRS 19 'Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures'
4. Significant accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial
statements are set out below. The policies have been consistently applied to
all the periods presented.
Basis of consolidation
The consolidated financial statements incorporate the results of accesso
Technology Group plc and all of its subsidiary undertakings and the Employee
Benefit Trust as at 31 December 2024 using the acquisition method.
Subsidiaries are all entities over which the Group has the ability to affect
the returns of the entity and has the rights to variable returns from its
involvement with the entity. The results of subsidiary undertakings are
included from the date of acquisition.
The acquisition of subsidiaries is accounted for using the acquisition method.
The cost of the acquisition is measured at the aggregate of the fair value, at
the date of exchange, of assets given, liabilities incurred or assumed, and
equity instruments issued by the Group in exchange for control of the
acquiree. Any costs directly attributable to the business combination are
written off to the Group income statement in the period incurred. The
acquiree's identifiable assets, liabilities, and contingent liabilities that
meet the conditions under IFRS 3 are recognised at their fair value at the
acquisition date.
Goodwill arising on acquisition is recognised as an asset and initially
measured at cost, being the excess of the cost of the business combination
over the Group's interest in the net fair value of the identifiable assets,
liabilities, and contingent liabilities recognised. Provisional fair values
are adjusted against goodwill if additional information is obtained within one
year of the acquisition date about facts or circumstances existing at the
acquisition date.
Where necessary, adjustments are made to the financial statements of
subsidiaries to bring the accounting policies used into line with those used
by the Group.
Disclosure and details of the subsidiaries are provided in note 19.
Investments, including the shares in subsidiary companies held as non-current
assets, are stated at cost less any provision for impairment in value.
Lo-Q (Trustees) Limited, a subsidiary company that holds an employee benefit
trust on behalf of accesso Technology Group plc, is under control of the Board
of Directors and hence has been consolidated into the Group results.
accesso Technology Group Employee Benefit Trust is considered to be a special
purpose entity in which the substance of the relationship is that of control
by the Group in order that the Group may benefit from its control. The assets
held by the trust are consolidated into the Group financial statements.
All intra-Group transactions, balances, income and expenses are eliminated on
consolidation.
Contingent consideration
Contingent consideration is recognised at fair value at the acquisition date
and is based on the actual and/or expected performance of the entity in which
the contingent consideration relates. Contingent consideration is subject to
the sellers fulfilling their performance obligations over the contingent
period. Subsequent changes to the fair value of contingent consideration are
based on the movement of the Group's share price at the reporting date. These
changes which are deemed to be a liability are recognised in accordance with
IFRS 9 in the statement of comprehensive income.
Going concern
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which the
Directors consider to be appropriate for the following reasons.
For the purposes of the going concern assessment, the Directors have prepared
monthly cash flow projections for a period of 12 months post the date of
approval of the financial statements (base scenario). The cash flow
projections show that the Group has significant headroom against its committed
facilities and can meet its financial covenant obligations.
The Directors have reviewed sensitised net cash flow forecasts for the same
going concern period, which indicate that, taking account of severe but
plausible downsides, the Group will have sufficient funds to meet the
liabilities of the Group as they fall due for that period. The Group's severe
but plausible downside scenario models revenue over the next 12 months
reflecting the full financial impact of a sustained material event, which
reduces forecast revenues by 10% in comparison to the base scenario referenced
above, and results in revenue of $139.6m for 2025 and marginally decreases
thereafter. Under this same scenario, underlying administrative spend
increases to $94.2m in 2025, from $97.0m in 2024, with marginal decreases
thereafter for the same corresponding periods to reflect cost cutting measures
that would be implemented. The severe but plausible downside scenario
indicates that the Group's net cash balance reaches a low point of $33.7m.
At 31 December 2024, the Group has cash of $42.8m and drawings on the loan
facility of $14.8m with a further $25.2m of the total $40.0m remaining
available. Financial covenants on the facility were passed during 2024 and are
forecast to be passed through the going concern assessment period both under a
base case and a severe but plausible scenario.
Consequently, the Directors are confident that the Group and Company will have
sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for the
assessment period being 12 months from the date of signing and therefore have
prepared the financial statements on a going concern basis.
Foreign currency
Foreign currency transactions
Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into the respective
functional currencies of Group companies at the rates ruling when the
transactions occur.
Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency are translated
into the functional currency at the exchange rate at the reporting date.
Non-monetary assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value in a
foreign currency are translated into the functional currency at the exchange
rate when the fair value was determined. Non-monetary items that are measured
based on historical cost in a foreign currency are translated at the exchange
rate at the date of the transaction.
Foreign operations
The assets and liabilities of foreign operations, including goodwill, are
translated into USD at the exchange rates at the reporting date. The income
and expenses of foreign operations are translated into USD at the rates ruling
when the transactions occur, or appropriate averages.
Foreign currency differences on translating the opening net assets at an
opening rate and the results of operations at actual rates are recognised in
other comprehensive income and accumulated in the translation reserve.
Retranslation differences recognised in other comprehensive income will be
reclassified to profit or loss in the event of a disposal of the business, or
the Group no longer has control or significant influence.
Revenue from contracts with customers
IFRS 15 provides a single, principles-based five step model to be applied to
all sales contracts as outlined below. It is based on the transfer of control
of goods and services to customers and replaces the separate models for goods
and services.
1. Identify the contract(s) with a customer.
2. Identify the performance obligations in the contract.
3. Determine the transaction price.
4. Allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in
the contract.
5. Recognise revenue when or as the entity satisfies its performance
obligations.
The following table provides information about the nature and timing of the
satisfaction of performance obligations in contracts with customers, including
significant payment terms, and the related revenue recognition policies.
Type of product/service/ segment Nature of the performance obligations and significant payment terms Accounting policy
a. Point-of-sale (POS) licences and support revenue - Ticketing and Each contract provides the customer with the right to use the POS licence The transaction price is allocated in accordance with management's estimate of
distribution (installed on premise) for terms between one and three years. The customer the standalone selling price for each performance obligation, which is based
also receives support for typically a period of one year. This support is not on observable input costs and a target margin.
necessary for the functionality of the licence and is therefore a distinct
performance obligation from the right to use the POS licence. Revenue from sale of POS licences is recognised at a point in time when the
customer has been provided with the software. Point in time recognition is
With agreements longer than one year, invoices are generated either quarterly appropriate because the licence provides the customer with the right of use of
or annually; usually payable within thirty days. the POS software as it exists and is fully functional from the date it is
provided to the customer.
Although payments are made over the term of the agreement, the agreement is
binding for the negotiated term. The total transaction price is payable over Support revenue is recognised on a straight-line basis over the term of the
the term of the agreement via the annual or quarterly instalments. contract, which in most cases is one year and is renewable at the option of
the customer thereafter. This option to renew is not considered a material
right.
The revenue recognition of POS licences at a point in time gives rise to a
contract asset at inception. The balance reduces as the consideration is
billed annually/quarterly in accordance with the agreement.
b. Software licences and the related maintenance and support revenue - Each contract provides the customer with the right to use the software licence The transaction price is allocated using observable market inputs, where the
Ticketing and distribution and Guest Experience (installed on premise) with annual support and maintenance. The support and annual support and maintenance revenue is carved out of the total
maintenance is not required to operate the software and is considered a consideration using an estimate that best reflects its stand-alone selling
distinct performance obligation from the right to use the software licence. price.
The customer has an option to renew the licence at no additional cost by Annual support and maintenance revenue is recognised on a straight-line basis
annually renewing support and maintenance at each anniversary. This is over the term of the contract, which in most cases is one year and is
considered a material right under IFRS 15 and represents a separate renewable at the option of the customer thereafter.
performance obligation. Where the contract contains a substantial termination
penalty, it is considered that there is no option to renew and as such these Revenue from sale of annual software licences is recognised at a point in time
contracts do not include a separate performance obligation for a material when the customer has been provided with the software. The revenue is
right of renewal. recognised at a point in time because the licence provides the customer with
the right of use of the software as it exists and is fully functional from the
Invoices are raised at the beginning of each contract for the software licence date it is provided to the customer.
and annual support and maintenance. Subsequently, invoices are raised at each
anniversary of the contract for annual support and maintenance (as software Revenue from sale of multi-year software licence contracts is spread as the
licence is renewed at no additional cost). customer has the option to renew each year's licence at no additional cost by
paying the annual support and maintenance fee. A proportion of the licence
payment is deferred and recognised at a future point in time when the customer
renews. The amount that is deferred is dependent on the term of the
contract. For example: on the inception of a three-year contract, two thirds
of the licence fee consideration would be deferred and released equally on the
first and second anniversary when the customer renews their maintenance and
support. Perpetual licences are recognised in the same manner, with the
exception being that the contract term is estimated to be five years.
If the customer chooses not to exercise the above option, any residual
deferred revenue would be recognised as income in that period.
Revenue from the sale of multi-year software licences containing a substantial
termination penalty is not deferred and instead recognised at a point in time.
It is considered that these contracts do not contain an option to renew.
The deferred revenue gives rise to a contract liability at the inception of
the contract. The balance reduces as revenue is recognised at each contract
anniversary.
c. Software licences and bundled implementation services - Ticketing and Each contract provides the customer with the right to use a customised Revenue from the sale of customised licences is recognised over time as the
distribution software licence (installed on premise). The software licence is sold asset is created and control passes to the customer.
alongside interdependent implementation services that are not considered to be
aseparate obligation from the licence.
The output method is adopted where the Group's right to consideration
corresponds directly with the completed milestone's performance obligations.
Invoices are raised at predetermined milestones set out within the contract. Revenue for these customers is recognised in line with the amount of revenue
The milestones correspond with the value being received by the customer and the Group is entitled to invoice.
reflect the value of progress toward completion of the obligation.
d. Virtual queuing system - Guest Experience Virtual queuing systems are installed at a client's location, and revenue is Revenues are recognised when the park guest purchases virtual queuing services
recognised when a park guest uses the service as a sales or usage-based from the attraction owner, being the later of sale or usage, and the
royalty. The Group's performance obligation is to provide a right to access, satisfaction of the performance obligation to which that sale or usage-based
and the necessary technical support to, its virtual queuing platform, with royalty has been allocated.
which the park provides virtual queuing services to the park guest. The
Group's contracts are with the attraction owner, not park guest.
e. Ticketing and eCommerce revenue - Ticketing and distribution The Group's performance obligation is the provision of a right to access, and Ticketing and eCommerce revenue is recognised at the time the ticket is sold
necessary specified technical support to, its ticketing and eCommerce through our platform, or the transaction takes place, within that distinct
platform, over a distinct series of service periods. Invoices are issued series of service periods. accesso recognises the fee it receives for
monthly and are generally payable within thirty days. processing the transaction as revenue.
f. Professional services - Ticketing and distribution and Guest Experience Professional services revenue is typically providing customised software The output method is adopted where the Group's right to consideration
development and in general is agreed with the customer and billed at each corresponds directly with the completed monthly performance obligation.
month end. Certain contracts span longer time periods whereby the Group Revenue for these customers is recognised in line with the amount of revenue
carries out customisation and delivers software releases to customers at the Group is entitled to invoice.
predetermined milestones.
Bespoke professional services work is recognised over time where the Group has
enforceable rights to revenue in the event of cancellation. The Group is
entitled to compensation for performance completed to date in the event that
the customer terminates the contract. This compensation would be sufficient to
cover costs and a reasonable proportion of the expected margin.
The Group recognises revenue over time using the input method (hours/total
budgeted hours) when this method best depicts the Group's performance of
transferring control.
g. Hardware sales - Ticketing and distribution and Guest Experience On certain contracts, customers request that the Group procures hardware on This revenue is recognised at the point the customer obtains control of the
their behalf which the Group has determined to be a distinct performance hardware which is considered to be the point of delivery when legal title
obligation. passes. accesso takes control and risk of ownership on hardware procurement
and recognises sales and costs on a gross basis as principal.
h. Platform fees Cloud-based experience management platform systems are used by certain venues Revenue is billed monthly and recognised over time as the performance
to provide customer relationship management, guest personalisation, payment obligations of hosting and supporting the secure platforms are provided to the
and ordering services, push notifications, scheduling, offers, location-based venues.
services, consumer-facing screens and many other services to end users at
attractions. These secure platforms are provided to venues together with
support under annual contracts.
Contract assets and contract liabilities
Contract assets represent licence fees which have been recognised at a point
in time but where the consideration is contractually payable over time;
professional service revenue whereby control has been passed to the customer;
and deferred contract commissions incurred in obtaining a contract, which are
recognised in line with the recognition of the revenue. Contract assets for
point in time licence fees and unbilled professional service revenue are
considered for impairment on an expected credit loss model. These assets have
historically had immaterial levels of bad debt and are with creditworthy
customers, and consequently the Group has not recognised any impairment
provision against them.
Contract liabilities represent discounted renewal options on licence
arrangements whereby a customer has the right to renew their licence at a full
discount subject to the payment of annual support and maintenance fees on each
anniversary of the contract. Contract liabilities are recognised as income
when a customer exercises their renewal right on each anniversary of the
contract and pays their annual maintenance and support. In the situation of a
customer terminating their contract, all unexercised deferred renewal rights
would be recognised as income, representing a lapse of the renewal right
options. The licence fees related to these contract liabilities are
non-refundable.
Where these assets or liabilities mature in periods beyond 12 months of the
balance sheet date, they are recognised within non-current assets or
non-current liabilities as appropriate.
Interest expense recognition
Expense is recognised as interest accrues, using the effective interest
method, to the net carrying amount of the financial liability.
Employee benefits
Share-based payment arrangements
The Group issues equity-settled share-based payments to full-time employees.
Equity-settled share-based payments are measured at the fair value at the date
of grant, with the expense recognised over the vesting period, with a
corresponding increase in equity. The amount recognised as an expense is
adjusted to reflect the Group's estimate of shares that will eventually vest,
such that the amount recognised is based on the number of awards that meet the
service and non-market performance conditions at the vesting date.
The fair value of our share awards with time-based and employment conditions
are measured by use of a Black-Scholes model, and share options issued under
the Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) are measured using the Monte Carlo method,
due to the market-based conditions upon which vesting is dependent. The
expected life used in the model has been adjusted, based on management's best
estimate, for the effects of non-transferability, exercise restrictions, and
behavioural considerations.
The LTIP awards contain market-based vesting conditions where they have been
set. Market vesting conditions are factored into the fair value of the options
granted. As long as all other vesting conditions are satisfied, a charge is
made irrespective of whether the market vesting conditions are satisfied. The
cumulative expense is not adjusted for failure to achieve a market vesting
condition or where a non-vesting condition is not satisfied.
Pension costs
Contributions to the Group's defined contribution pension schemes are charged
to the consolidated statement of comprehensive income in the period in which
they become due.
Property, plant and equipment
Items of property, plant and equipment are stated at cost of acquisition or
production cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses.
Depreciation is charged to write off the cost of assets, less residual value,
over their estimated useful lives, using the straight-line method, on the
following bases:
Plant, machinery, and office equipment 20 - 33.3%
Installed systems 25 - 33.3%, or life of contract
Furniture and fixtures 20%
Leasehold Improvements Shorter of useful life of the asset or time remaining within the lease
contract
Inventories
The Group's inventories consist of parts used in the manufacture and
maintenance of its virtual queuing product, along with peripheral items that
enable the product to function within a park.
Inventories are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after
making due allowance for obsolete and slow-moving items. Inventories are
calculated on a first-in, first-out basis.
Park installations are valued on the basis of the cost of inventory items and
labour plus attributable overheads. Net realisable value is based on estimated
selling price less additional costs to completion and disposal.
Deferred tax
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognised where the carrying amount
of an asset or liability in the Consolidated and Company statements of
financial position differs from its tax base, except for differences arising
on:
· the initial recognition of goodwill;
· the initial recognition of an asset or liability in a transaction
which is not a business combination and at the time of the transaction affects
neither accounting or taxable profit; and
· investments in subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities where
the Group is able to control the timing of the reversal of the difference and
it is probable that the difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future.
Recognition of deferred tax assets is restricted to those instances where it
is probable that taxable profit will be available against which the difference
can be utilised.
The amount of the asset or liability is determined using tax rates that have
been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting date and are expected
to apply when the deferred tax liabilities/(assets) are settled/(recovered).
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the Group has a legally
enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the
deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax
authority on either:
· the same taxable Group company; or
· different Group entities which intend either to settle current
tax assets and liabilities on a net basis, or to realise the assets and settle
the liabilities simultaneously, in each future period in which significant
amounts of deferred tax assets or liabilities are expected to be settled or
recovered.
Current income tax
The tax expense or benefit for the period comprises current and deferred tax.
Tax is recognised in the income statement, except to the extent that it
relates to items recognised in other comprehensive income or directly in
equity. In this case, the tax is also recognised in other comprehensive income
or directly in equity, respectively.
The current income tax charge is calculated on the basis of the tax laws
enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date in the countries
where the Company and its subsidiaries operate and generate taxable income.
Management periodically evaluates positions taken in tax returns with respect
to situations in which applicable tax regulation is subject to interpretation.
It establishes provisions where appropriate on the basis of amounts expected
to be paid to the tax authorities. See note 13 for further discussion on
provisions related to tax positions.
Goodwill and impairment of non-financial assets
Any excess of the cost of the business combination over the Group's interest
in the net fair value of the identifiable assets, liabilities and contingent
liabilities is recognised in the consolidated statement of financial position
as goodwill and is not amortised.
After initial recognition, goodwill is stated at cost less any accumulated
impairment losses, with the carrying value being reviewed for impairment at an
operating segment level before aggregation, at least annually and whenever
events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may be
impaired.
Where the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit is less than its
carrying amount including goodwill, an impairment loss is recognised in the
consolidated income statement.
Any non-financial assets other than goodwill which have suffered impairment
are reviewed for possible reversal of the impairment at each reporting date.
Assets that are subject to amortisation and depreciation are also reviewed for
any possible impairment at each reporting date.
Externally acquired intangible assets
Intangible assets are capitalised at cost and amortised to nil by equal
instalments over their estimated useful economic life.
Intangible assets are recognised on business combinations if they are
separable from the acquired entity. The amounts ascribed to such intangibles
are arrived at by using appropriate valuation techniques. The significant
intangibles recognised by the Group and their useful economic lives are as
follows:
· Trademarks over 10 years.
· Patents over 20 years.
· Customer relationships and supplier contracts over 1 to 15 years.
· Acquired internally developed technology over 3 to 7 years.
Internally generated intangible assets and research and development
Expenditure on internally developed products is capitalised if it can be
demonstrated that it is substantially enhancing an asset and:
· it is technically feasible to develop the product for it to be
sold;
· adequate resources are available to complete the development;
· there is an intention to complete and sell the product;
· the Group is able to sell the product;
· sale of the product will generate future economic benefits; and
· expenditure on the project can be measured reliably.
In accordance with IAS 38 Intangible Assets, expenditure incurred on research
and development is distinguished as either related to a research phase or to a
development phase. Development expenditure not satisfying the above criteria
and expenditure on the research phase of internal projects is recognised in
the consolidated income statement as incurred.
Development expenditure is capitalised and amortised within administrative
expenses on a straight-line basis over its useful economic life between 3 to 5
years from the date the intangible asset goes into use. The amortisation
expense is included within administrative expenses in the consolidated income
statement.
All advanced research phase expenditure is charged to the income statement.
For development expenditure, this is capitalised as an internally generated
intangible asset only if it meets the criteria noted above. The Group has
contractual commitments for development costs of $nil (2023: $nil).
Acquired intellectual property rights and patents
Intellectual property rights comprise assets acquired, being external costs,
relating to know-how, patents, and licences. These assets have been
capitalised at the fair value of the assets acquired and are amortised within
administrative expenses on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful
economic life of 5 to 7 years.
Financial assets
The Group classifies all its financial assets into one of the following
categories, depending on the purpose for which the asset was acquired. The
Group's accounting policy for each category is as follows:
· Trade and loan receivables: Trade receivables are initially
recognised by the Group and carried at original invoice amount less an
allowance for any uncollectible or impaired amounts. Under IFRS 9, the Group
applies the simplified approach to measure the loss allowance at an amount
equal to the lifetime expected credit losses for trade receivables. Trade
receivables are also specifically impaired where there are indicators of
significant financial difficulties for the counterparty or there is a default
or delinquency in payments. Loan receivables are non-derivative financial
assets with fixed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an active
market. They arise principally through the provision of goods and services to
customers (trade receivables), but also incorporate other types of contractual
monetary asset.
· Cash and cash equivalents in the statement of financial position
comprise cash at bank, cash in hand and short-term deposits with an original
maturity of three months or less. Bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand
and form an integral part of the Group's cash management are included as a
component of cash and cash equivalents for the purposes of the consolidated
statement of cash flow.
Financial liabilities
The Group treats its financial liabilities in accordance with the following
accounting policies:
· Trade payables, accruals and other short-term monetary
liabilities are recognised at fair value and subsequently at amortised cost.
· Bank borrowings and leases are initially recognised at fair value net
of any transaction costs directly attributable to the issue of the instrument.
Such interest-bearing liabilities are subsequently measured at amortised cost
using the effective interest rate method, which ensures that any interest
expense over the period to repayment is at a constant rate on the balance of
the liability carried in the statement of financial position. 'Interest
expense' in this context includes initial transaction costs and premiums
payable on redemption, as well as any interest payable while the liability is
outstanding. Where bank borrowings are denominated in foreign currency, they
are translated into the functional currency at the exchange rate at the
reporting date, with the corresponding net gain or loss recorded within
interest expense. For loan modifications, the Group assesses if the loan can
be prepaid without significant penalty and if so, no gain or loss is
recognised in the income statement at the date of the modification.
Employee Benefit Trust (EBT)
As the Company is deemed to have control of its EBT, it is treated as an
extension of the parent Company and is included in the consolidated financial
statements. It is also included in the Company balance sheet as it is treated
as an extension of the Company. The EBT's assets (other than investments in
the Company's shares), liabilities, income, and expenses are included on a
line-by-line basis in the consolidated financial statements. The EBT's
investment in the Company's shares is deducted from equity in the consolidated
and Company statements of financial position as if they were treasury shares.
IFRS 16 leases
The Group assesses whether a contract is or contains a lease. Under IFRS 16, a
contract is, or contains, a lease if the contract conveys a right to control
the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for
consideration.
As a lessee
The Group leases commercial office space. The Group has elected not to
recognise right of use assets and lease liabilities for some leases of low
value and those being short-term, below 12 months in duration. The Group
recognises the lease payments associated with these leases as an expense on a
straight-line basis over the lease term.
The Group recognises a right of use asset and lease liability at the lease
commencement date.
The right of use asset and lease liability are initially measured at the
present value of the lease payments that are not paid at the commencement
date, discounting using the Group's incremental borrowing rate. Subsequently,
the right of use asset is adjusted for impairment losses and adjusted for
certain remeasurements of the lease liability.
The lease liability is subsequently increased by the interest cost on the
lease liability and decreased by lease payments made. It is remeasured when
there is a change in future lease payments arising from a change in an index
or rate, a change in the estimate of the amount expected to be payable under a
residual value guarantee, or as appropriate, changes in the assessment of
whether a purchase or extension option is reasonably certain to be exercised
or a termination option is reasonably certain not to be exercised.
The Group has applied judgement to determine the lease term for some lease
contracts that include renewal options. The assessment of whether the Group is
reasonably certain to exercise such options impacts the lease term, which
significantly affects the amount of lease liabilities and right of use assets
recognised.
As a lessor
As a lessor, the Group classifies its leases as either operating or finance
leases. A lease is classified as a finance lease if it transfers substantially
all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of the underlying asset, and
classified as an operating lease if it does not. The Group has not currently
entered into any lease that is classified as an operating lease.
At the commencement of the finance lease, the Group recognises a lease
receivable that equates to the net investment in the lease, which comprises
the lease payments receivable discounted using the Group's incremental
borrowing rate.
For further details on the Group's leases see note 30.
Exceptional items
Items that are non-operating or non-recurring in nature are presented as
exceptional items in the consolidated income statement, within the relevant
account heading. The Directors are of the opinion that the separate recording
of exceptional items provides helpful information about the Group's underlying
business performance. Events which may give rise to the classification of
items as exceptional include, but are not restricted to, impairment charges
over the Group's internally developed and acquired intangibles and costs
relating to business acquisitions along with any subsequent integration and
reorganisation cost.
5. Functional and presentation currency
The presentation currency of the Group is US dollars (USD) in round thousands.
Items included in the financial statements of each of the Group's entities are
measured in the functional currency of each entity. The Group used the local
currency as the functional currency, including the parent Company, where the
functional currency is sterling. The Group's choice of presentation currency
reflects its significant dealings in that currency.
6. Critical judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
In preparing these consolidated financial statements, the Group makes
judgements, estimates and assumptions concerning the future that impact the
application of policies and reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income
and expenses.
The resulting accounting estimates calculated using these judgements and
assumptions are based on historical experience and expectations of future
events and may not equal the actual results. Estimates and underlying
assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis, and revisions to estimates are
recognised prospectively.
The judgements and key sources of assumptions and estimation uncertainty that
have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial
statements are discussed below.
Judgements
Information about judgements made in applying accounting policies that have
the most significant effects on the amounts recognised in these consolidated
financial statements are below:
Capitalised development costs
The Group capitalises development costs in line with IAS 38 Intangible Assets.
Management applies judgement in determining if the costs meet the criteria and
are therefore eligible for capitalisation at the outset of a project; $2.63m
has been capitalised on new projects during 2024 (2023: $2.84m). Significant
judgements include the determination that assets have been substantially
enhanced, the technical feasibility of the development, recoverability of the
costs incurred, and economic viability of the product and potential market
available considering its current and future customers.
Within Intangible Assets at the year end is $3.8m (2023: $2.8m) capitalised in
relation to a new product that launched to the market in November 2023. A key
assumption in the future economic viability of this product is the successful
signing of contracts with customers in the period subsequent to the year end.
Given the early stage of the product in its life cycle, there is uncertainty
in the number of contracts that will be obtained and a variation from
expectations could result in a value in use below the carrying value.
See internally generated intangible assets and research and development within
note 4 for details on the Group's capitalisation and amortisation policies,
and Intangible Assets, note 17, for the carrying value of capitalised
development costs.
Deferred tax asset on US losses and tax credits
The Group has recognised a deferred tax asset of $3.0m (2023: $3.8m) derived
from US tax credits (with 20-year expiry dates ranging from 2038 to 2044). The
recognition of this asset is based on the expected profitability of the US
entities using the Group's five-year Board-approved forecasts, which indicates
that such credits would be utilised by the fiscal year ending 31 December
2026. According to the enacted legislation, these tax credits can be used to
offset a current income tax liability greater than $25k, for up to 75% of the
said liability. The key inputs are not sensitive to plausible changes in the
assumptions. In addition, to the expected profitability of the US entities,
the said credits were assessed under guidelines established under section 382
of the current US tax legislation, which sets out that these would be
restricted if there is deemed to have been an ownership change of greater than
50% over the assessment period. This assessment concluded any ownership change
was below 50% resulting in no restriction on the credits available for use.
The need for an assessment under the above-mentioned section of the US
legislation will be monitored closely for its future applicability.
Identification of separable intangibles on acquisition
Identification of separable intangibles on acquisition are recognised when
they are controlled through contractual or other legal rights, or are
separable from the rest of the business, and their fair value can be reliably
measured. Customer relationships and acquired technology have been identified
by management as separate intangible assets and can be reliably measured by
valuation of future cash flows.
Assumptions and estimation uncertainties
Information about assumptions and estimation uncertainties that have a
significant risk of resulting in material adjustments in the following year
are:
Impairment of non-financial assets (subject to annual update)
The Group assesses whether there are any indicators of impairment for all
non-financial assets at each reporting date. Goodwill is tested for impairment
annually and at other times when such indicators exist. Other non-financial
assets are tested for impairment when there are indicators that the carrying
amounts may not be recoverable. When value in use calculations are undertaken,
management must estimate the expected future cash flows from the asset or
cash-generating unit and choose a suitable discount rate in order to calculate
the present value of those cash flows. Further details are given in note 17
and under judgements relating to capitalised development costs.
Useful economic lives of capitalised development costs (subject to annual
update)
The Group amortises its capitalised development costs over 3 to 5 years as
this has been deemed by management to be the best reflection of the life cycle
of their technology. If this useful economic life estimate were to be 4 or 6
years, the impact on the current year amortisation would be $625k higher and
$369k lower respectively. Management review this estimate each year to ensure
it is reflective of the technologies being developed.
7. Business and geographical segments
Segmental analysis
The Group's operating segments under IFRS have been determined with reference
to the financial information presented to the Board of Directors. The Board of
the Group is considered the Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") as defined
within IFRS 8, as it sets the strategic goals for the Group and monitors its
operational performance against this strategy.
The Group's Ticketing and Distribution operating segment comprises the
following products:
o accesso Passport ticketing suite using our hosted proprietary technology
offering to maximise up-selling, cross-selling and selling greater volumes.
o accesso Siriusware software solutions providing modules in ticketing &
admissions, memberships, reservations, resource scheduling, retail, food
service, gift cards, kiosks and eCommerce.
o accesso ShoWare ticketing solution for box office, online, kiosk, mobile,
call centre and social media sales.
o Ingresso operate a consolidated distribution platform which connects
venues and distributors, opening up a larger global channel for clients to
sell their event, theatre and attraction tickets.
o accesso Paradox cutting-edge software solution specifically tailored to
the unique needs of the industry. The flexible, hosted solution empowers ski
areas to take full control of their operations across ticketing and passes,
snow school, retail, equipment rental, food & beverage, administration,
and online sales in one, unified platform.
o accesso Horizon highly functional and best-in-class ticketing and visitor
management solution leveraging an innovative portfolio model approach to guest
management.
The Group's Guest Experience reportable segment comprises the following
aggregated operating segments:
o accesso LoQueue providing leading edge virtual queuing solutions to take
customers out of line, improve guest experience and increase revenue for theme
parks.
o Mobile Applications experience management platforms which delivers
personalised real-time immersive customer experiences at the right time,
elevating the guest's experience and loyalty to the brand.
o accesso Freedom: recently launched point of sale system enabling modules
in food and beverage, retail, eCommerce via kiosk or mobile through a
multi-tenanted hosted solution.
The Group's virtual queuing solution (accesso LoQueue), experience management
platforms (Mobile Platforms), and food and beverage retail system (accesso
Freedom) are headed by segment managers who discuss the operating activities,
financial results, forecasts and plans of their respective segments with the
CODM. These three distinct operating segments share similar economic
characteristics, expected long-term financial performance, customers and
markets; the products are heavily bespoke, technology and software intensive
in their delivery and are directly targeted at improving a guest's experience
of an attraction or entertainment venue, whilst providing cross-selling
opportunities and increased revenues to the venues. Management therefore
conclude that they meet the aggregation criteria.
The Group's Professional Services reportable segment comprises of professional
services revenues generated independently from the Group's other products.
These revenues are for services that stand separate from our transactional and
licence revenues and fluctuate depending on customer project life cycles. The
presentation of the segmental information for Professional Services was
previously disclosed as part of Guest Experience, but was revised for the year
ended 31 December 2024 to reflect the structural changes within the Group
following the acquisitions made during 2023.
The Group's assets and liabilities are reviewed on a Group basis and therefore
segmental information is not provided for the statements of financial position
of the segments.
The CODM monitors the results of the reportable segments prior to charges for
interest, depreciation, tax, amortisation and non-recurring items but after
the deduction of capitalised development costs. The Group has a significant
amount of central unallocated costs which are not segment specific. These
costs have therefore been excluded from segment profitability and presented as
a separate line below segment profit.
The following is an analysis of the Group's revenue and results from the
continuing operations by reportable segment, which represents revenue
generated from external customers.
2024 2023 *Restated
$000 $000
Ticketing and Distribution 113,032 104,024
Guest Experience 31,463 34,175
Professional Services 7,796 11,316
Total revenue 152,291 149,515
*Comparatives for the period ending 31 December 2023 have been restated to
present Professional Services as a distinct segment following structural
changes within the Group. This revenue was previously included within the
Guest Experience segment.
Ticketing and Distribution Guest Professional Services Central unallocated Capitalised development costs Group
Experience costs
Year ended 31 December 2024 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Revenue 113,032 31,463 7,796 - - 152,291
Cost of sales (24,104) (5,734) (3,445) - - (33,283)
Central unallocated administrative expenses - - - (93,544) (2,633) (96,177)
Cash EBITDA (1) 88,928 25,729 4,351 (93,544) (2,633) 22,831
Capitalised development spend 2,633
Depreciation and amortisation (excluding acquired intangibles) (4,259)
Amortisation related to acquired intangibles (4,212)
Share-based payments (3,705)
Acquisition, integration and disposal related costs (127)
Finance income 839
Finance expense (2,319)
Profit before tax 11,681
Ticketing and Distribution Guest Professional Services* Central unallocated Capitalised development costs Group
Experience* costs
Year ended 31 December 2023 (Restated) $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Revenue 104,024 34,175 11,316 - - 149,515
Cost of sales (20,768) (8,647) (5,677) (176) - (35,268)
Central unallocated administrative expenses - - - (93,460) 2,839 (90,621)
Cash EBITDA (1) 83,256 25,528 5,639 (93,636) 2,839 23,626
Capitalised development spend 2,839
Depreciation and amortisation (excluding acquired intangibles) (7,832)
Amortisation related to acquired intangibles (2,811)
Impairment of intangible assets (6)
Share-based payments (3,187)
Exceptional costs relating to acquisitions (2,690)
Finance income 953
Finance expense (2,084)
Profit before tax 8,808
(1) Cash EBITDA is calculated as operating profit before the deduction of
amortisation, impairment of intangible assets, depreciation, acquisition,
integration and disposal costs, deferred and contingent payments, and costs
related to share-based payments but after capitalised development costs.
*Comparatives for the period ending 31 December 2023 have been restated to
present Professional Services as a distinct segment following structural
changes within the Group. This revenue was previously included within the
Guest Experience segment.
The segments will be assessed as the Group develops and continues to make
acquisitions.
An analysis of the Group's external revenues and non-current assets (excluding
deferred tax) by geographical location are detailed below:
Revenue Non-current assets
2024 2023* 2024 2023
$000 $000 $000 $000
UK* 32,561 28,581 24,115 24,830
Italy* 1,162 215 38,274 39,675
Germany 2,296 2,848 1 7
France 1,480 1,359 - -
Spain* 1,280 1,321 - -
Netherlands* 976 1,041 - -
Ireland 448 382 1,685 2,131
Other Europe 983 749 - -
Australia* 6,130 5,913 17 9
Japan 1,894 1,754 - -
Singapore 1,563 402 2,199 2,545
Other Asia/South Pacific 1,384 1,252 12 8
USA* 88,004 93,196 84,850 86,063
Canada 5,483 4,536 8,867 10,863
Mexico 3,135 3,761 96 47
Other Central and South America 874 903 - 12
United Arab Emirates 1,897 1,109 1,746 1,953
Other Middle East 371 - - -
Africa 370 193 - -
152,291 149,515 161,862 168,143
*This disclosure has been restated for the year ended 31 December 2023 to
present distribution revenue by country of the venue rather than country of
distributor (i.e. where the venue is located rather than the location of the
distributor where the ticket was sold). This reclassification aligns
distribution revenue more closely to the presentation of accesso's other
products, where the primary market relates to the location of the venue or
event.
Revenue generated in each of the geographical locations is generally in the
local currency of the venue or operator based in that location.
Major customers
The Group has entered into agreements with theme parks, theme park groups, and
attractions to operate its technology in single or multiple theme parks or
attractions within the theme park group.
There are two park and attraction operators with which the Group has
contractual relationships with combined segmental revenues in excess of 10% of
the total Group revenue. The first park operator accounted for $17.2m (2023:
$17.9m) of Ticketing and Distribution revenue and for $11.7m (2023: $14.9m) of
Guest Experience revenue. The second park and attractions operator accounted
for $15.7m (2023: $15.2m) of Ticketing and Distribution revenue and for $7.6m
(2023: $7.4m) of Guest Experience revenue.
8. Revenue
Revenue primarily arises from the operation and licensing of virtual queuing
solutions, the development and application of eCommerce ticketing,
professional services, and licence sales in relation to point-of-sale and
guest management software and related hardware. All revenue of the Group is
from contracts with customers.
Disaggregated revenue
The Group has disaggregated revenue into various categories in the following
table which is intended to depict the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty
of revenue recognition and to enable users to understand the relationship with
revenue segment information provided in note 8.
Year ended 31 December 2024 Year ended 31 December 2023*
Ticketing and Distribution Guest Professional Services Ticketing and Distribution** Guest Professional Services*
Experience Group Experience* Group
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Primary geographic markets
UK** 29,274 3,287 - 32,561 25,295 3,286 - 28,581
Italy** 1,162 - - 1,162 215 - - 215
Germany 1,123 1,173 - 2,296 1,006 1,842 - 2,848
France 40 1,440 - 1,480 26 1,333 - 1,359
Spain** 135 1,145 - 1,280 15 1,306 - 1,321
Netherlands** 168 808 - 976 183 858 - 1,041
Ireland 345 70 33 448 314 68 - 382
Other Europe 427 556 - 983 380 369 - 749
Australia** 4,604 1,526 - 6,130 4,299 1,614 - 5,913
Japan 1,894 - - 1,894 1,754 - - 1,754
Singapore 1,563 - - 1,563 402 - - 402
Other Asia/South Pacific 1,256 128 - 1,384 1,012 240 - 1,252
USA** 59,427 20,843 7,734 88,004 59,098 22,808 11,290 93,196
Canada 5,191 292 - 5,483 4,270 266 - 4,536
Mexico 2,911 195 29 3,135 3,550 185 26 3,761
Other Central and South America 874 - - 874 903 - - 903
United Arab Emirates 1,897 - - 1,897 1,109 - - 1,109
Other Middle East 371 - - 371 - - - -
Africa 370 - - 370 193 - - 193
113,032 31,463 7,796 152,291 104,024 34,175 11,316 149,515
Product type
Licence fees 4,782 - - 4,782 4,386 - - 4,386
Support and maintenance 9,756 431 - 10,187 8,809 529 - 9,338
Platform fees - 3,164 - 3,164 - 3,352 - 3,352
Virtual queuing - 25,705 - 25,705 - 29,098 - 29,098
Ticketing and eCommerce 88,843 139 - 88,982 82,753 23 - 82,776
Professional services 5,187 140 7,796 13,123 4,007 213 11,316 15,536
Hardware 321 1,858 - 2,179 769 764 - 1,533
Other 4,143 26 - 4,169 3,301 195 - 3,496
113,032 31,463 7,796 152,291 104,024 34,175 11,316 149,515
Timing of transfer of goods and services
Point in time licence fees 3,936 - - 3,936 3,834 - - 3,834
Point in time virtual queuing/ticketing/hardware/other 93,307 30,753 - 124,060 86,823 33,409 - 120,232
97,243 30,753 - 127,996 90,657 33,409 - 124,066
Over time licence fees 846 - - 846 552 - - 552
Over time maintenance, support, platform fees and professional services 14,943 710 7,796 23,449 12,815 766 11,316 24,897
15,789 710 7,796 24,295 13,367 766 11,316 25,449
113,032 31,463 7,796 152,291 104,024 34,175 11,316 149,515
Revenue included within point in time licence fees above related to the 1,020 - - 1,020 1,811 - - 1,811
exercise or lapse of renewal rights
*The Guest Experience segment has been restated to exclude Professional
Services that are not being provided in conjunction with one of our products.
The prior period Guest Experience revenue was $45.5m being the sum of the
Guest Experience and Professional Services 2023 amounts.
**This disclosure has been restated for the year ended 31 December 2023 to
present distribution revenue by country of the venue rather than country of
distributor (i.e. where the venue is located rather than the location of the
distributor where the ticket was sold). This reclassification aligns
distribution revenue more closely to the presentation of accesso's other
products, where the primary market relates to the location of the venue or
event.
Contract balances
The following tables provide information about contract assets arising from
contracts with customers.
Group Company
Non-current Current Non-current Current
Total Total
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
784 3,345 4,129 28 524 552
At 31 December 2023
At 31 December 2024 763 2,805 3,568 16 21 37
Group
Breakdown of contract assets at 31 December 2024 $000
Company
$000
Accrued income 3,223 -
Contract commissions 345 37
3,568 37
Group
Breakdown of contract assets at 31 December 2023 $000
Company
$000
Accrued income 3,675 484
Contract commissions 454 68
4,129 552
The contract assets primarily relate to the Group's rights to consideration
for licence fees or professional services recognised but not billed. The
contract assets are transferred to receivables when the rights become
unconditional. This occurs when the Group issues an invoice to the customer in
line with the contractually agreed terms and does not relate purely to the
passage of time. The Group also capitalises commissions paid in connection
with obtaining a contract and recognises the expense over the term of the
agreement, testing for impairment annually.
The following tables provide information about contract liabilities arising
from contracts with customers.
Group Company
Non-current Current Non-current Current
Total Total
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
927 7,353 8,280 2 171 173
At 31 December 2023
At 31 December 2024 492 7,265 7,757 - 493 493
Transfers of contract liabilities to revenue during the period were equal to
the prior year current liabilities.
The contract liabilities primarily relate to support and maintenance services
to be provided for ticketing software licences and guest management software,
where the revenue is recognised over the terms of the agreements. A portion of
contract liabilities relates to upfront milestone billings where the
performance obligation has not yet been satisfied. The remaining balance of
contract liabilities consists of material rights customers of the Group's
ticketing software receive at the time the contract is signed for the right to
use software licences, which allows them to renew at a discount in subsequent
years. Refer to item (b) the Group's revenue recognition policy table in note
4 covering software licences and the related maintenance and support revenue.
The revenue is recognised when the customer renews over the term of the
contract or 5 years for contracts that do not have a term.
No revenue was recognised in the period ended 31 December 2024 or 2023 from
performance obligations satisfied (or partially satisfied) in previous
periods.
Remaining performance obligations
No information is provided about remaining performance obligations at 31
December 2024 or 2023 that have an original expected duration of one year or
less, as allowed by IFRS 15.
The amount of revenue that will be recognised in future periods on contracts
with material rights over future discounted licence fees is analysed as
follows:
31 December 2024 31 December 2023
Less than 1 year Between 1 and 5 years Less than 1 year Between 1 and 5 years
$000 $000 $000 $000
Material rights over discounted licence fee renewal 381 485 652 895
9. Finance income and expense
The table below details the finance income and expense for the current and
prior periods:
2024 2023
$000 $000
Finance income:
Bank interest received 833 934
Interest on tax receivable - 15
Finance lease receivables 6 4
Total finance income 839 953
Finance costs:
Bank interest (1,586) (1,467)
Amortisation of capitalised refinance costs (285) (464)
Lease (note 30) (119) (101)
Interest on sales tax accrual (54) (52)
Revaluation of borrowings held in foreign currency (275) -
Total finance costs (2,319) (2,084)
Net finance expense (1,480) (1,131)
10. Tax
The table below provides an analysis of the tax charge for the periods ended
31 December 2024 and 31 December 2023:
2024 2023
$000 $000
UK corporation tax
Current tax on income for the period 505 946
Adjustment in respect of prior periods (101) (364)
404 582
Overseas tax
Current tax on income for the period 2,279 2,115
Adjustment in respect of prior periods 271 933
2,550 3,048
Total current taxation 2,954 3,630
Deferred taxation
Original and reversal of temporary difference - for the current period (390) (1,094)
Impact on deferred tax rate changes 591 170
Original and reversal of temporary difference - for the prior period (557) (1,590)
(356) (2,514)
Total taxation charge 2,598 1,116
The differences between the actual tax charge for the period and the
theoretical amount that would arise using the applicable weighted average tax
rate are as follows:
2024 2023
$000 $000
Profit on ordinary activities before tax 11,681 8,808
Tax at United States tax rate of 27.36% (2023: 27.67%) 3,196 2,437
Effects of:
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes (218) (61)
Profit subject to foreign taxes at a lower marginal rate 36 714
Adjustment in respect of prior period - income statement (387) (1,021)
Research and Development credit estimation adjustment 213 (697)
Research and Development credits utilised (509) (351)
Share options (274) (177)
Impact of rate changes 591 170
Deferred tax on foreign losses and R&D credits not recognised 536 -
Other (586) 102
Total taxation charge 2,598 1,116
Deferred taxation Asset Liability
$000 $000
Group
At 31 December 2022 15,279 (3,294)
Credited/(charged) to income 2,573 (59)
(Charged) directly to equity (1,274) -
Foreign currency translation 40 (22)
Acquired through business combination 85 (5,446)
At 31 December 2023 16,703 (8,821)
(Charged)/credited to income (1,294) 1,649
(Charged) directly to equity (289) -
Foreign currency translation (81) 17
At 31 December 2024 15,039 (7,155)
Company
At 31 December 2022 - (163)
Credited/(charged) to income 19 (31)
(Charged) directly to equity (17) -
Foreign currency translation 5 (13)
Netted against the asset (7) 7
At 31 December 2023 - (200)
Credited to income 38 132
(Charged) directly to equity (1) -
Foreign currency translation - 4
Netted against the asset (37) 37
At 31 December 2024 - (27)
The following table summarises the recognised deferred tax asset and
liability:
2024 2023
Group $000 $000
Recognised asset
Tax relief on unexercised employee share options 1,582 1,930
Short-term timing differences 1,569 2,829
Net operating losses & tax credits 3,029 4,552
Capitalised R&D expenditure 8,859 7,392
Deferred tax asset 15,039 16,703
Recognised liability
Capital allowances in excess of depreciation (17) (703)
Short-term timing differences (536) (745)
Business combinations (6,602) (7,373)
Deferred tax liability (7,155) (8,821)
Company
Recognised asset
Tax relief on unexercised employee share options 110 60
Short-term timing differences 18 32
Offset against Company deferred tax asset (128) (92)
Deferred tax asset - -
Recognised liability
Capital allowances in excess of depreciation (155) (292)
Offset against Company deferred tax asset 128 92
Deferred tax liability (27) (200)
Group
Unrecognised asset
Net operating losses & tax credits - Canada (included within the 536 -
unrecognised deferred tax asset is $0.3m relating to prior period)
Unrecognised deferred tax asset 536 -
The tax rate in the US rate remained at 21%, before state taxes. Deferred tax
assets and liabilities were measured at a rate of 21% (2023: 21%) plus state
taxes in the US.
The tax rate in the UK remained at 25%. Deferred tax assets and liabilities
were measured at a rate of 25% (2023: 25%).
There are no material unrecognised deferred tax assets outside of Canada.
The critical assumptions used in the assessment for the recognition of the
deferred tax asset on US losses and available tax credits are discussed in
note 6.
Taxation and transfer pricing
The Group is an international technology business and, as such, transfer
pricing policies are in place to cover funding arrangements, management costs
and the exploitation of IP between Group companies. Transfer prices and the
policies applied directly affect the allocation of Group-wide taxable income
across a number of tax jurisdictions. While transfer pricing entries between
legal entities are on an arm's length basis, there is increasing scrutiny from
tax authorities on transfer pricing arrangements. This could result in the
creation of uncertain tax positions.
The Group provides for anticipated risks, based on reasonable estimates, for
tax risks in the respective countries in which it operates. The amount of such
provisions can be based on various factors, such as experience with previous
tax audits and differing interpretations of tax regulations by the taxable
entity and the responsible authority. Uncertainties exist with respect to the
evolution of the Group following international acquisitions holding
significant IP assets, interpretation of complex tax regulations, changes in
tax laws, and the amount and timing of future taxable income.
Given the wide range of international business relationships and the long-term
nature and complexity of existing contractual agreements, differences arising
between the actual results and the assumptions made, or future changes to such
assumptions, could necessitate future adjustments to tax income and expense
already recorded.
Uncertainties in relation to tax liabilities are provided for within income
tax payable to the extent that it is considered probable that the Group may be
required to settle a tax liability in the future. Settlement of tax provisions
could potentially result in future cash tax payments; however, these are not
expected to result in an increased tax charge as they have been fully provided
for in accordance with management's best estimates of the most likely
outcomes.
Ongoing tax assessments and related tax risks
The Group has undertaken a review of potential tax risks and current tax
assessments, and whilst it is not possible to predict the outcome of any
current or future tax enquiries, adequate provisions are considered to have
been included in the Group accounts to cover any expected estimated future
settlements.
In common with many international groups operating across multiple
jurisdictions, certain tax positions taken by the Group are based on industry
practice and external tax advice or are based on assumptions and involve a
degree of judgement. It is considered possible that tax enquiries on such tax
positions could give rise to material changes in the Group's tax provisions.
The Group is consequently, from time to time, subject to tax enquiries by
local tax authorities, and certain tax positions related to intercompany
transactions may be subject to challenge by the relevant tax authority.
The Group has recognised provisions where it is not probable that tax
positions taken will be accepted, totalling $1.5m (2023: $1.3m) in relation to
availability of international R&D claims. There is a further provision of
$5.1m (2023: $5.1m) recognised, in connection with tax liabilities inherited
in the entities acquired during the year ended 31 December 2023. This
provision was calculated in accordance with the Group's transfer pricing
policies.
The US tax credits recognised in the year were assessed under the section 382
US tax legislation to validate they can be utilised. This assessment will need
to continue to be performed on an annual basis to determine if any restriction
is required.
11. Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable
to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares
outstanding during the period. Own shares held by the Employee Benefit Trust
are eliminated from the weighted average number of shares.
Diluted earnings per share is calculated by dividing the net profit
attributable to ordinary shareholders, after adjustments for instruments that
dilute basic earnings per share, by the weighted average of ordinary shares
outstanding during the period (adjusted for the effects of dilutive
instruments).
Earnings for adjusted earnings per share, a non-GAAP measure, are defined as
profit before tax before the deduction of amortisation related to
acquisitions, impairment of intangible assets, acquisition, integration and
disposal costs, deferred and contingent consideration linked to continued
employment, and costs related to share-based payments, less tax at the
effective rate on tax impacted items.
The table below reflects the income and share data used in the total basic,
diluted, and adjusted earnings per share computations.
2024 2023
$000 $000
Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders ($000) 9,083 7,692
Basic EPS
Denominator
Weighted average number of shares used in basic EPS (000s) 40,593 40,075
Basic earnings per share (cents) 22.38 19.19
Diluted EPS
Denominator
Weighted average number of shares used in basic EPS (000s) 40,593 40,075
Effect of dilutive securities
Options (000s) 1,004 1,034
Contingent share consideration on business combinations (000s) 29 88
Weighted average number of shares used in diluted EPS (000s) 41,626 41,197
Diluted earnings per share (cents) 21.82 18.67
2024 2023
$000 $000
Adjusted EPS
Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders ($000) 9,083 7,692
Adjustments for the period related to:
Amortisation relating to acquired intangibles from acquisitions 4,212 2,811
Impairment of intangible assets - 6
Acquisition and disposal-related costs 127 2,690
Share-based compensation and social security costs on unapproved options 3,705 3,187
17,127 16,386
Net tax related to the above adjustments (2024: 19.5%, 2023: 22.8%): (1,542) (1,365)
Adjusted profit attributable to ordinary shareholders ($000) 15,585 15,021
Adjusted basic EPS
Denominator
Weighted average number of shares used in basic EPS (000s) 40,593 40,075
Adjusted basic earnings per share (cents) 38.39 37.48
Adjusted diluted EPS
Denominator
Weighted average number of shares used in diluted EPS (000s) 41,626 41,197
Adjusted diluted earnings per share (cents) 37.44 36.46
1,002,774 LTIP awards were excluded in the calculation of diluted EPS as at 31
December 2024 (2023: 1,040,511) as a result of exercise conditions contingent
on the satisfaction of certain criteria that had not been met.
12. Intangible assets
The cost and amortisation of the Group's intangible fixed assets are detailed
in the following table:
Goodwill Customer Trademarks Acquired internally developed intellectual property Patent & IPR costs Development costs Totals
relationships & supplier contracts
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Cost
At 31 December 2022 115,140 13,577 469 24,426 1,106 58,317 213,035
Foreign currency translation 1,123 8 - 86 67 627 1,911
Additions - - 14 - - 2,839 2,853
Acquisition through business combination 39,438 8,903 - 11,363 1 - 59,705
Disposals - - - - - (497) (497)
At 31 December 2023 155,701 22,488 483 35,875 1,174 61,286 277,007
Foreign currency translation (766) (44) - (491) (17) (204) (1,522)
Additions - - - - - 2,633 2,633
Disposals - - - - - (423) (423)
At 31 December 2024 154,935 22,444 483 35,384 1,157 63,292 277,695
Amortisation/Impairment
At 31 December 2022 17,403 11,185 467 24,426 136 48,998 102,615
Foreign currency translation - 1 - 13 23 457 494
Charged - 1,369 2 1,442 399 5,989 9,201
Impairment - - - - - 6 6
Disposal - - - - - (497) (497)
At 31 December 2023 17,403 12,555 469 25,881 558 54,953 111,819
Foreign currency translation - (11) 1 (167) (16) (142) (335)
Charged - 1,636 1 2,576 410 2,372 6,995
Disposal - - - - - (423) (423)
At 31 December 2024 17,403 14,180 471 28,290 952 56,760 118,056
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 137,532 8,264 12 7,094 205 6,532 159,639
At 31 December 2023 138,298 9,933 14 9,994 616 6,333 165,188
Significant acquisition intangibles
Acquisition Year Acquisition intangibles Remaining useful economic life Net book value
2024 2023
$000 $000
VGS 2023 Customer relationships 8.5 years 7,100 7,935
VGS 2023 Acquired technology 3.5 years 3,577 4,600
Paradox 2023 Acquired technology 3.25 years 3,517 4,995
The cost and amortisation of the Company's intangible fixed assets are
detailed in the following table:
Patent costs Development costs Totals
$000 $000 $000
Cost
At 31 December 2022 90 10,084 10,174
Foreign currency translation 5 606 611
Additions - 2,151 2,151
Disposals - (384) (384)
At 31 December 2023 95 12,457 12,552
Foreign currency translation (1) (180) (181)
Additions - 1,234 1,234
Disposals - (305) (305)
At 31 December 2024 94 13,206 13,300
Amortisation
At 31 December 2022 62 7,684 7,746
Foreign currency translation 4 440 444
Charged 10 907 917
Impairment - 6 6
Disposals - (384) (384)
At 31 December 2023 76 8,653 8,729
Foreign currency translation (1) (128) (129)
Charged 10 1,028 1,038
Disposals - (305) (305)
At 31 December 2024 85 9,248 9,333
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 9 3,958 3,967
At 31 December 2023 19 3,804 3,823
Capitalised development costs are not treated as a realised loss for the
purpose of determining the Company's distributable profits as the costs meet
the conditions requiring them to be treated as an asset in accordance with IAS
38.
Impairment testing of goodwill
The Group is required to test, on an annual basis, whether goodwill has
suffered any impairment or where indicators of impairment exist. The
recoverable amount is determined based on value in use calculations. The use
of this method requires the estimation of future cash flows and the
determination of a discount rate in order to calculate the present value of
the cash flows. The goodwill balances of the Group are monitored and tested at
an operating segment level. Further details on their composition are set out
below.
The carrying amount of goodwill is allocated as follows:
2024 2023
$000 $000
Ticketing and Distribution (CGU1, 2, 3, 7 and 8) * 107,399 108,067
accesso LoQueue (CGU5) ** 28,500 28,500
Professional services (CGU 9) *** 1,633 1,731
137,532 138,298
The key assumptions used in the value in use calculations are as follows:
2024 2023
Pre-tax discount rate (%)
Ticketing and Distribution (CGU 1, 2, 3, 7 & 8)* 15.9% 17.0%
accesso LoQueue ** (CGU 5) 16.2% 17.3%
Professional services*** (CGU 9) 16.1% 17.2%
Average annual EBITDA growth rate during forecast period (average %)
Ticketing and Distribution (CGU 1, 2, 3, 7 & 8)* 6.4% 27.8%
accesso LoQueue ** (CGU 5) 1.8% 3.5%
Professional services*** (CGU 9) 19.2% 1.0%
Terminal growth rate (%)
Ticketing and Distribution (CGU 1, 2, 3, 7 & 8)* 2.0% 2.0%
accesso LoQueue ** (CGU 5) 2.0% 2.0%
Professional services*** (CGU 9) 2.0% 2.0%
Period on which detailed forecasts based (years)
Ticketing and Distribution (CGU 1, 2, 3, 7 & 8)* 5 5
accesso LoQueue ** (CGU 5) 5 5
Professional services*** (CGU 9) 5 5
* Comprises the products accesso Passport & Siriusware (CGU1); accesso
ShoWare (CGU2); Ingresso (CGU3); accesso Paradox (CGU7) and accesso Horizon
(CGU8) within all trading entities as disclosed in note 19.
** Comprises accesso LoQueue trading within accesso Technology Group plc;
Lo-Q, Inc.; Lo-Q Service Canada Inc. and accesso Australia PTY Limited.
*** Comprises professional services trading within accesso Ireland Limited and
Blazer and Flip Flops Inc.
Operating margins have been based on experience, where possible, and future
expectations in the light of anticipated economic and market conditions.
Growth rates beyond the formally budgeted period are based on economic data
pertaining to the industry and region concerned.
The discount rates applied to all CGUs was a pre‑tax measure estimated based
on comparable listed company gearing and capital structures, an equity risk
premium and risk-free rate applicable to the country, small stock premium
relative to the market and size of business and an appropriate cost of debt
relative to market conditions.
Sensitivity analysis
A considerable amount of judgement is applied in setting discount rates,
forecasts and terminal values. If any of the following changes were made to
the following key assumptions, the carrying value and recoverable amount would
be equal as at 31 December 2024.
Ticketing and Distribution* accesso
LoQueue**
2024 2023 2024 2023
Pre-tax discount rate Increase by 6.0% Increase by 10.8% Increase by 19.5% Increase by 13.2%
EBITDA growth rate during detailed forecast period (average) Reduce by 29.2% Reduce by 39.2% Reduce by 52.2% Reduce by 40.1%
Terminal growth rate Reduce by 7.2% to a terminal rate of -5.2% Reduce by 28.3% to a terminal rate of -26.3% Reduce by 36.8% to terminal rate of -34.8% Reduce by 19.9% to terminal rate of -17.9%
Excess over carrying value ($000) $45,280 $27,684
$58,994 $92,259
* Comprises the products accesso Passport & Siriusware (CGU1); accesso
ShoWare (CGU2); Ingresso (CGU3); accesso Paradox (CGU7) and accesso Horizon
(CGU8) within all trading entities as disclosed in note 19.
** Comprises accesso LoQueue trading within accesso Technology Group plc;
Lo-Q, Inc.; Lo-Q Service Canada Inc. and accesso Australia PTY Limited.
We do not consider there are any plausible changes in assumptions that would
give rise to an impairment in Ticketing and Distribution or accesso LoQueue
over the next financial year.
There is no reasonably possible change in the key assumptions that would
reduce the recoverable amount of professional services (CGU 9) to equal the
carrying value as the recoverable amount is achieved within the forecast
five-year period.
Environmental risk in cash flows
It is expected that air travel will be reduced in the longer term in response
to climate change agendas and we have considered this risk in our cash flow
forecasting for impairment testing. The majority of the venues we serve have
typically localised customer bases rather than being reliant on destination
travel; consequently we consider the risk as minimal on our forecasts.
The below table sets out the intangible asset impairments recorded within
accesso LoQueue, The Experience Engine and the Ticketing and Distribution
segment:
2024 2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 2023 2023
accesso LoQueue Professional services Ticketing and Distribution Total accesso Professional services Ticketing and Distribution Total
LoQueue
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Intangible assets - - - - - - - -
Impairment of specific development projects - - - - 6 - - 6
Impairment charge recorded within administrative expense - - - - 6 - - 6
A review of all project development costs capitalised was performed at year
end with $nil impairment charges recorded.
No intangible asset impairment reversals were recorded within the Group during
the current or prior year.
Development costs not yet available for use
Development cost assets not yet available for
use reside in the CGUs as follows and are considered annually for impairment
in line with the goodwill attached to those CGUs. These capitalised costs
relate to development projects which have not been put into use as at the year
end:
2024 2023
Entity name (and CGU) $000 $000
accesso, LLC & Siriusware, Inc. (CGUs 1 and 6) 496 464
accesso Technology Group plc (CGUs 1, 5 and 6) 927 974
accesso Ireland Limited (CGU 1) 45 -
accesso Paradox, Inc (CGU 6) 30 -
13. Property, plant and equipment
The cost and depreciation of the Group's tangible fixed assets are detailed in
the following table:
Installed systems Plant, machinery and office equipment Furniture & fixtures Leasehold improvements Totals
$000 $000 $000 $000 $000
Cost
At 31 December 2022 1,803 3,008 1,136 277 6,224
Foreign currency translation 10 40 33 - 83
Additions 22 411 205 - 638
Acquisition through business combination - 113 83 41 237
Disposals (97) (672) (418) (247) (1,434)
At 31 December 2023 1,738 2,900 1,039 71 5,748
Foreign currency translation (33) (77) 20 (2) (92)
Additions - 326 55 39 420
Disposals (105) (132) (9) (4) (250)
At 31 December 2024 1,600 3,017 1,105 104 5,826
Depreciation
At 31 December 2022 1,473 2,043 937 168 4,621
Foreign currency translation 9 73 29 - 111
Charged 180 620 122 53 975
Disposals (87) (648) (383) (187) (1,305)
At 31 December 2023 1,575 2,088 705 34 4,402
Foreign currency translation (7) (69) 14 (1) (63)
Charged 98 583 153 29 863
Disposals (125) (128) (4) (1) (258)
At 31 December 2024 1,541 2,474 868 61 4,944
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 59 543 237 43 882
At 31 December 2023 163 812 334 37 1,346
Refer to note 23 for details of security over the Group's property, plant and
equipment by banking providers.
The cost and depreciation of the Company's tangible fixed assets are detailed
in the following table:
Installed systems Plant, machinery and office equipment Furniture & fixtures Totals
$000 $000 $000 $000
Cost
At 31 December 2022 169 922 619 1,710
Foreign currency translation 9 53 34 96
Additions - 102 - 102
Disposals - (27) (1) (28)
At 31 December 2023 178 1,050 652 1,880
Foreign currency translation (28) (15) 30 (13)
Additions - 83 - 83
Disposals (57) (1) - (58)
At 31 December 2024 93 1,117 682 1,892
Depreciation
At 31 December 2022 136 781 524 1,441
Foreign currency translation 7 46 30 83
Charged 19 93 35 147
Disposals - (23) (1) (24)
At 31 December 2023 162 897 588 1,647
Foreign currency translation (2) (15) 21 4
Charged 9 108 35 152
Disposals (78) - - (78)
At 31 December 2024 91 990 644 1,725
Net book value
At 31 December 2024 2 127 38 167
At 31 December 2023 16 153 64 233
Refer to note 23 for details of security over the Group's property, plant and
equipment by banking providers.
14. Borrowings
Group Company
2024 2023 2024 2023
$000 $000 $000 $000
Bank loans 14,750 21,250 14,750 21,250
Arrangement fees, less amortised cost (697) (901) (697) (901)
14,053 20,349 14,053 20,349
On 26 May 2023, the Group secured a $40.0m revolving credit facility with a
four-year term, to May 2027, accompanied by a $20.0m accordion option with
HSBC UK Bank PLC. The facility is secured through fixed and floating charges
over assets belonging to the following Group entities: accesso Technology
Group plc, Lo-Q Inc, accesso, LLC, Siriusware, Inc, VisionOne, Inc, Blazer and
Flip-flips, Inc, LO-Q Service Canada Limited, Lo-Q Limited and Ingresso Group
Limited. As at 31 December 2024, the Group had drawn $14.8m ($14.1m net of
finance costs) which was used to partially fund the three acquisitions made by
the Group in the prior period.
15. Called up share capital
2024 2023
Ordinary shares of 1p each Number $000 Number $000
Opening balance 41,843,760 603 41,394,647 597
Issued in relation to exercised share options 271,882 3 718,976 9
Re-purchase of shares for cancellation (1,165,559) (15) (299,272) (4)
Contingent consideration settled in shares 58,818 1 29,409 1
Closing balance 41,008,901 592 41,843,760 603
During 2024, 271,882 shares (2023: 718,976 shares), with a nominal value
$3,422 (2023: $9,145), were allotted following the exercise of share options.
The number of shares held by the accesso Technology Group plc Employee Benefit
Trust as at 31 December 2024 was 682,248 shares (2023: 1,136,942). Nil shares
(2023: 374,971) were purchased by the Employee Benefit Trust during the year.
In addition to the programme approved in 2023, the Board approved a further
share repurchase programme, both with a value of up to GBP £4.0m. The first
programme commenced in 2023 and concluded on 29 February 2024, with a total
repurchase and cancellation of 706,984 shares for a total consideration of
$5.0m (GBP £4.0m). The second programme commenced in August 2024 and
concluded on 5 November 2024 with a total of 757,847 shares being repurchased
for a total of $5.3m (GBP £4.0m). As at the year end, the Company had
repurchased and cancelled 1,165,559 shares for a total of $8.1m (GBP £6.2m).
At the prior year end, 229,272 shares had been repurchased and cancelled for a
total of $2.2m (GBP £1.8m).
In 2024, 58,818 shares (2023: 29,409) were issued in relation to the
settlement of contingent consideration.
The holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive dividends as declared
from time to time and are entitled to one vote per share at meetings of the
Company.
Following the adoption of new Articles of Association on 12 April 2011, the
Company no longer has an authorised share capital limit.
All issued share capital is fully paid as at 31 December 2024.
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