Airline e-commerce platform Datalex has reported higher revenues and gross profits for the six months to the end of June as it also announced today that it is launching a capital raise.
Datalex said its half year revenue rose by 3% to $13.2m compared to the same time last year with continued growth in platform revenue partially offset by a decline in services revenue due to customer terminations the previous year.
It said its platform revenue increased by 14% to $7.2m on the back of ongoing activation of product capabilities with recently acquired customers.
Datalex said it expect to see continued platform revenue growth through the second half of this year as it completes further activations and benefit from the migration of customers to its licence and transaction fee model.
But services revenue fell by 11% to $5.5m due to revenue from Scandinavian Airlines and Virgin Australia not recurring this year.
The company said its gross profit for the six-month period jumped by 25% to $3.8m, while it recorded a loss after tax of $6.1m, a slight improvement on the loss of $6.2m the same time last year.
Its operating expenses for the first half of 2024 amounted to $5.8m, down 6%, mainly due to a positive foreign exchange benefit.
During the first half of the year, EasyJet went live with additional capability and Datalex started activating its shopping and pricing capability for Air Macau.
Meanwhile, further migration of existing customers to its latest product platform, including Air China, Edelweiss and Aer Lingus. Air China went live with Datalex's latest shopping and pricing engine in August.
Datalex also said today it intends to complete a capital raise to raise about €25m - before expenses.
It said the funds raised will be used to repay the entire Tireragh Limited debt facility and support its near-term working capital requirements. It said the move is supported by its largest shareholders, who have expressed their intention to participate in the proposed capital raise.
Jonathan Rockett, Datalex's chief executive, said the company's growth in the first half of 2024 centres on its offer and order management platform, that will help bring customers on a journey away from legacy technology that has held back innovation within the airline industry for decades.
"Our offer and order management capabilities give airlines the technology needed to capitalise on maximising the airline retail opportunity," the CEO said.
"In H1, we have continued to invest in migrating some of our customers to this new platform, activated further capability for EasyJet, and commenced the activation of our shopping and pricing capability for Air Macau, who will go-live in the third quarter of this year," he said.
"When I look at 2024 as a full year, the year on year revenue growth will be held back by some non-recurring revenue from 2023. However, we expect to see several positive steps that will start to come to fruition in the year but will be more evident in 2025," he said.
"We do expect 2024 will be another year of platform growth and gross margin expansion which points to this positive trajectory for the business," he concluded.
