Fintech Beeks bullish amid H1 revenue jump while profits dip due to investment in business

Glasgow-based fintech Beeks Financial Cloud Group has reported a drop in underlying interim pre-tax profit after upping its investment into the business – but seen revenue jump by nearly half, and enjoyed “record” third-quarter trading.

The Aim-quoted cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets has revealed how underlying pre-tax profit in the six months ended December 31, 2021, fell by 18 per cent from the same period in 2020 to £450,000, with underlying basic earnings per share 0.90 pence, down from 0.94 pence.

Beeks stressed its increased investment into its people, operations and product offering to capitalise on its expanding target market, and grow its market share. The firm launched “high-performance, dedicated and client-owned trading environment” Proximity Cloud in August 2021, adding that it has more than $5.2m (£4m) total initial value of new contracts secured for the product to date, with a new iteration known as Exchange Cloud expected to be launched in the second half.

Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation was up by 41 per cent to £2.43 million, and revenues increased by 46 per cent to £7.72m, of which 89 per cent is recurring. Headcount increased to 87 in the period, up from 71 as at June 30, 2021, with nine added since.

Beeks also flagged “record” third-quarter trading, with more than $8.3m to date in total contracted value, and a major sales pipeline, including further tier one opportunities in private cloud and proximity cloud, adding that it is in final negotiations with various “world-leading” global exchanges.

It is bullish about achieving results for the year in line with market expectations, “having already upgraded FY22 revenue expectations three times in the last six months”. The firm also recently announced its signing of a fresh multi-year contract with a North American bank.

Beeks chief executive Gordon McArthur said the prospects for the firm – which has relocated its head office to a larger site in Braehead – “have never been more promising” and it has “a strong foundation” on which to grow.

'The prospects for Beeks have never been more promising,' says CEO Gordon McArthur. Picture: Layton Thompson.

He added: "We will continue to invest into the development of our offering and increased sales and marketing activities to capitalise on our early successes in this significant market. We have a considerable and growing pipeline, and look to the future with confidence."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.