Drinks and vending data specialist Vianet says it expects a return to profit when it announces full year results in June.
The Stockton-based Internet of Things company - which sells to the hospitality industry - anticipates operating profit of £2.2m in the year to the end of March 2022, up from a loss of £700,000 the year before.
In the same period revenues recovered to £13m from £8.4m in 2021 in a performance that Vianet said was welcome given the elongated impact of restrictions on pubs, bars and restaurants in 2021. It said most of its customers were now fully operational.
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Investors were told that new contract wins and device sales were encouraging, while recurring revenue from long term customers accounted for about 85% of turnover.
In the Smart Machines division, two material contract wins, the gradual re-opening of city centres and the continued demand for cashless vending solutions have resulted in new sales and an increase of over 20% in total connected devices. This has further contributed towards our strong H2 performance.
Vianet said it had focused on cash management while maintaining investment and pointed to well publicised shortages of semi-conductors and expected cost increases as reasons to further delay reinstating a dividend while it kept cash to buy stock.
James Dickson, chairman of Vianet, said: "Against a challenging backdrop I am pleased that the full year sales line recovered to over 80% of pre-pandemic levels despite the longer than expected timeframe of restrictions being in place and importantly we have maintained strong momentum into the current year.
"Whilst component supply chain pressures are likely to have some impact on hardware installation margins into 2023, we are excited about our sales pipeline and the opportunity we have to significantly grow our high-quality recurring income streams."
