Walkie-talkie firm warns on results

The Harrogate-based firm said full year revenues for 2019 are expected to be around £3.3m and it will make a loss of around £300,000 for the year.

The group said it expects earnings to break even in the second half of 2019.

The shortfall in revenue was driven largely by a delay to contracts with a government agency and a major public utility in Israel.

Although the commercial terms for these deals have been agreed and significant development work has been completed for both customers, full deployment of devices to their field teams has been delayed until the early part of 2020.

The firm said these two customers represent major strategic wins for the company during 2019 and the directors are confident that the commercial value of both deals will grow significantly during 2020 and beyond.

In response to the growing global market opportunity for Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC), the company has undertaken an aggressive product development programme which has significantly enhanced its products with additional features and functionality.

Mobile Tornado's chairman Jeremy Fenn said: "Whilst the expected outcome for the financial year is below what we had hoped, I am pleased to report that the business achieved a breakeven EBITDA position in the second half of the year for the first time.

"The pipeline of pending orders and opportunities reflects the company's broader product offering and the growing global market for PoC solutions.

"The board is confident that a good proportion of these leads will be converted into orders and will lead to a significant increase in revenues in due course."

He said investment in the company's solution suite should lead to a broader customer base, reduce future volatility in earnings and soften the impact of future timing issues.

The firm said PoC is becoming a more attractive option as the technology of choice for public and private enterprises seeking an alternative to the old analogue systems.

It added that enhanced features and functionality, alongside a significantly lower cost of ownership, makes for a compelling proposition.

Whilst still in its early stages, it said the market opportunity is large, global and offers Mobile Tornado significant future opportunities.