Video conferencing was adopted widely during the pandemic, including at Buckhingham Palace (Buckingham Palace/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)While some have embraced the end of work-from-home restrictions, a return to the office is bad news for video conferencing businesses.
Shares in conferencing software company LoopUp slumped almost 25% this morning after it reported a 60% drop in revenues compared with the same period in 2020.
It mirrors a similarly steep share price decline for US technology giant Zoom, which became the poster-child of remote work after coronavirus restrictions forced millions of office workers to stay at home. Zoom’s shares have more than halved since August 2021, after the California-based company missed revenue forecasts.
A raft of WFH-orientated tech companies, including Cisco, Crowdstrike and Ocado, have seen their share prices retreat from pandemic high as office workers discard digital services in favour of face-to-face interactions.
Only about a third of Brits reported working from home at least once a week in January, data released by Office for National Statistics shows, representing a fall of over a quarter compared with the pandemic peak of 49% during the first national lockdown in 2020.
Founded in 2003 in London and San Francisco, LoopUp reached a pandemic-high market cap of £75 million but has since seen its value crumble to a paltry £9.7 million.
In a trading update, the Shoreditch-based company said its recent slump in revenue was “broadly in line with market expectations.”
The company has made attempts to reverse its fortunes, securing 31 new contracts with mid-sized multinationals across 2021 and acquiring Madrid-based cloud communications business SyncRTC in a £3.3 million deal in September. It has courted the likes of Kia Motors and Travelex as major customers of its remote meetings facilities.
