Health: Jumbo adds MS, subtracts margins

Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN) has added MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Queensland to its cohort of charity lottery clients.

MS Queensland has bought a five-year licence for Jumbo’s online lottery software-as-a-service (SaaS) to set up a customised site.

Two years ago the online gambling platform began its swift ascent into the hearts and minds of ASX investors, before an equally swift descent from October last year.

Its rise was built on the back of a move into charity lottery, a big business overseas but until 2018 underserved in Australia. Jumbo has since created a SaaS product to let companies and other lottery owners power their own services online.

In spite of another round of superlative half-year results, investors are still not buying back into the company.

Profit was up 14 per cent to $14.4m, revenue was up 23 per cent to $37.6m, total transaction value was up 25 per cent to $185m, and dormancy rates, or the number of accounts that aren’t being used, was 17 per cent.

Revenue margins were cut by a third, however, after the company made its jackpots higher in order to encourage more people to play.

Morgans’ analyst James Lawrence says the result was in-line with expectations following guidance in December.

“The company has invested heavily ahead of anticipated revenue growth that has impacted margins,” he said.

“With the SaaS revenue ramp-up taking longer than we initially anticipated and given the company is coming off a strong prior corresponding period, Jumbo’s ability to drive customer spend in a potentially weak jackpot environment will be crucial for growth.”

In other ASX health news:

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) has received positive feedback from the US FDA about its submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) for TLX591-CDx, a trial to evaluate whether it can increase the diagnostic sensitivity of a radioactive imaging agent in patients with castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer.

Telix also said its full-year loss for 2019 doubled to $28m. The company is still in clinical and preclinical development, meaning it has no significant revenue flows. Better metrics are its cash holding of $45m and debts of $761,000.

Osprey Medical’s (ASX:OSP) full-year loss ticked up slightly to $18m as the company spent more on marketing, even though revenue rose 46 per cent on a significant increase in demand for its dye reduction and monitoring technologies that are used to minimise dye usage in heart imaging procedures.