Shares in Actual Experience, the Bath-based advanced analytics firm, slumped by more than 40% today after it revealed it was heading for an annual pre-tax loss.
In a year-end trading update, the firm also said efforts to reduce its sales cycle were being hampered by the pandemic and “the resultant elongation of procurement processes”.
Actual Experience said it expects to benefit from a ramp-up in revenue being generated by new business wins set against the probability that a long-standing contract will not be renewed. This contract generated revenue of £1.2m in the year to September 30.
The firm, which was founded 11 years ago following a decade of cutting-edge research at Queen Mary University of London and later relocated to Bath, is on a mission is to make the digital world work properly for everybody, everywhere, all of the time.
On a positive note, it said its first full year operating its professional services ‘land and expand’ model had seen good progress, faster customer engagement and quicker software deployment.
The hybrid workplace revolution triggered by the pandemic had resulted in continued momentum, it added, prompting a wider recognition by the market of the power of its unique technology.
It introduced its business impact assessment (BIA) in response to major changes in employment methods caused by the pandemic and it had also won new business for its Continuous Improvement (CI) services.
Annual revenue eased back from £1.9m to £1.7m on which it said it had incurred an undisclosed pre-tax loss as a result of the ongoing investment in technology, sales and marketing functions.
However, it said it was seeing good momentum in its targeting of a growing range of direct and channel partner sales opportunities, including many large global blue-chip customers.
Some 16 large blue-chip opportunities had emerged during the financial year, it said,with one already moving into CI, three have completed their BIA and are now considering moving to CI, while the remaining engagements continued to move forward with only one having dropped out of the pipeline.
It added that the current total addressable market of employees in its target enterprises had grown from 4m to more than 12m since January and it expected to see more opportunities emerge in the coming financial year.
CEO Dave Page said: “In 2021 we demonstrated our ‘land and expand’ business model and ability to win large global blue-chip customers with our new customer offering.
“Going into 2022, our focus will be continuing to convert the 15 large scale opportunities to ongoing CI wins.
“Through the direct and partner sales channels we will continue to develop similar new opportunities from our funnel, delivering more new business wins to generate long term, profitable contracted revenues.
“We are excited by the prospects in our pipeline and the immediate opportunities in front of us, notwithstanding the challenge of lengthy sales cycles, which we are working with our customers to reduce.”
The firm said it intends to announce its annual results in January.
Actual Experience’s shares were trading at 32.5p this afternoon, down 41.96% on the day. They had started 2012 at 147p.
