Ten Lifestyle Group warns of coronavirus impact on revenue

Lifestyle and travel platform provider Ten Lifestyle Group updated the market on its trading on Friday, reporting that adjusted EBITDA for its first half was expected to be breakeven and in line with its expectations.

The AIM-traded firm said it was also forecast to be a “significant” improvement on its adjusted EBITDA loss of £2.5m in the first half of the 2019 financial year, with continuing improvements in operating cost efficiencies.

It said it had net cash of £9.5m at period end on 29 February, down from £12.3m at the start of the first half.

During the six months, Ten Lifestyle said it made continued investment into technology to build service levels, efficiency, its competitive advantage and barriers to entry.

Year-on-year net revenue was expected to increase from both existing contracts and new launches, although at a lower growth rate than expected as a result of slower pipeline conversion and launch activation.

It successfully launched its largest ‘extra large’ contract win to date in the Americas during the period, with the first full month of the new programme delivered on schedule in February.

Looking ahead, Ten Lifestyle said that as the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus continued globally, the board had looked at the current impact and potential impact on the business:

Ten explained that it is paid to deliver services which can “flex with the needs and demands” of its members, with its revenue substantially derived from service delivery rather than the conversion of bookings such as a travel or event ticketing stand-alone business.

“We experienced some disruption in our Asia-Pacific region in January and February, and during this period we have been able to support our members in relevant ways, mitigating the financial impact on our business,” the board said in its statement.

“Currently, service activity and member engagement levels remain as expected on a group-wide basis and we are successfully supporting our members with both 'business as usual' requests and other requests related to the coronavirus.

“Notwithstanding the above, the effects of the coronavirus outbreak may impact near-term general marketing spend and initiatives, as well as the timing of client launches and we will continue to monitor the impact closely.”

As a result of that, Ten said it was expecting a reduction in net revenue growth for the 2020 financial year, compared to expectations.

However, the board said it was anticipating continuing operational efficiencies to mitigate the impact on adjusted EBITDA and net cash for the year.

Ten said it would issue its half-year results for the six months ended 29 February on 14 May.

At 1212 GMT, shares in Ten Lifestyle Group were down 8.10% at 76.35p.