Drinks and vending tech firm Vianet says the reopening of the hospitality sector has led to a recovery in its revenues and profits.
The North East plc grew revenue to £7.18m in the six months to the end of September, compared with £6.34m in the same period last year. Adjusted operating profit increased 48% to £1.21m on the back of a stronger market for its Smart Zones division, which provides bar management systems for venue operators and its Smart Machines business which provides contactless and telemetry-enabled vending.
Vianet said it had boosted its number of vending machines by roughly 24% year-on-year, meaning it now had an estate of more than 52,000. Four new long-term contracts and three renewals were secured for the Smart Zones business which had suffered the loss of around 200 contracted sites from 10,100 to 9,900 due to pub closures.
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The firm said that despite the trend of pub closures, it expected further sales of its systems in the second half of its financial year to offset the impact. It also pointed to the continued impact of the "global economic backdrop" and supply chain issues but said it was encouraged by increasing demand for its products and that it would continue to deliver growth.
James Dickson, chairman and CEO of Vianet Group plc, said: "The first half has benefitted from increased demand for data, which has positively impacted operating profit and our momentum going into H2. Despite the challenging economic backdrop, we are on track to meet market expectations for the full year and have a clear line of sight to achieving pre-pandemic trading levels during FY 2023 and into FY24.
"We have successfully laid the foundations for growth and have a great team, an exciting product range, high-quality recurring income, and strong sales pipelines in our core markets. We also see opportunities for our data capture capabilities in several other complimentary new verticals."
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