ASX Earnings Wrap: Siteminder surges 20pc on solid hotel bookings; Prospa swings to loss and tanks 12pc

It’s earnings season again as the ASX market announcements page becomes increasingly flooded with earnings lodgements.

To save you the trouble of trudging through it all, we’ve wrapped up the highlights from some of the reports that caught our eye.

SiteMinder (ASX:SDR)

Highlights:

Revenue increased 30.5% on pcp to $151.4m for FY23
Transaction revenues grew 65.6% on pcp to $48.4m for FY23
Guidance is for EBITDA profitable and FCF positive in H2 FY24

The hotel booking platform rose 20% after reporting a solid year which includes accelerating its subscriber growth and reducing cash usage.

The company also expects to be EBITDA profitable and free cash flow positive in the second half of FY24.

For the year, the platform’s annualised recurring revenue (ARR) increased 33.5% on pcp to $173.1m, while liquidity remains strong at $83.6m in cash and equivalents.

“The past year has seen SiteMinder strengthen its go-to-market capability through the expansion of marketing and sales channels that reach hotels in more effective and targeted ways,” said CEO, Sankar Narayan.

“This growth, along with our cost reduction program, has put the business firmly on the path to become profitable in H2FY24,” he added.

Pointerra (ASX:3DP)

Highlights:

10-year, US$15 billion contract signed with exisiting customer Entergy
Shares rose as high as 80%

Not earnings related, but the 3D geospatial data tech company surged 80% this morning after announcing that an existing customer, Entergy, has selected Pointerra’s US EPC partners for its 10-year, US$15 billion grid resilience CAPEX Program.

Entergy is a Fortune 500 company that provides power to 3 million customers throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

In late 2022, the Louisiana based energy utility had announced a 10-year, US$15 billion electric grid resilience CAPEX program.

Pointerra’s AI driven analytics platform will be used to identify and prioritise grid assets requiring remediation or replacement across the term of the program.

Pointerra says it expects to generate material annual revenue across the term of the program.

Beforepay Group (ASX:B4P)

Highlights:

The first positive EBITDA for the first time ever as a listed company
Quarterly operating revenue increased 49% year-on-year
Operating expenses fell 27% over the same period

Beforepay delivered a positive EBITDA of $0.57m in Q4.

This is the first positive EBITDA for the company in its six quarters as a public company, and demonstrates the significant progress it has been making towards profitability.

The company attributed this outcome to its ability to both tightly control operating expenses, and to its strong data-driven approach to risk management.

While this is no guarantee of future profitability – given natural fluctuations in credit outcomes as well as other factors – Beforepay says the results demonstrate the sustainability of the company’s business model.

“We’ve driven the cost agenda hard throughout the business, keeping our overheads flat while becoming significantly more efficient at performance marketing,” said CEO, Jamie Twiss.

The Calmer Co (ASX:CCO)

Highlights:

Revenue for the quarter of $690k, an 79% increase on prior quarter
Cash receipts from customers of $630k, up 66% on prior quarter

Formerly called Fiji Kava, the company saw solid sales performance this quarter in each of its three key regions of the USA, the Pacific Islands and Australia.

Coupled with continued focus on cost control and profitable sales channels, the company saw its lowest level of cash utilised in operation since listing on the ASX.

Ecommerce continues to perform strongly, and CCO is now able to serve its Fiji Kava and Danondan customers in the US directly from its websites.

Prospa Group (ASX:PGL)

Highlights:

Quarterly revenue of $75m, up 40% on pcp
FY23 loss before tax expected to be -$65m (vs $1.7m profit in FY22)

Prospa shares lost 11% this morning after reporting that it will swing into a loss for FY23.

Despite increasing its revenue in the quarter, Prospa said losses were incurred as a result of certain small businesses experiencing heightened cost pressures, changes in consumer demands, and weakening revenue.

Looking ahead, Prospa says it anticipates a period of continued economic uncertainty impacting the small business sectors in Australia and NZ.