Bango reports decline in annual revenue

27th Apr 2026 12:23

(Sharecast News) - Bango reported a small fall in annual revenue for 2025 but higher adjusted earnings on Monday, as growth in its subscriptions business and recurring revenue helped offset a decline in payments revenue.

The AIM-traded company said revenue for the year ended 31 December fell 2% to $52.2m from $53.4m in 2024.

Payments segment revenue declined 15% to $30.0m from $35.2m, while subscriptions segment revenue rose 22% to $22.2m from $18.2m.

Annual recurring revenue increased 30% to $18.2m from $14.0m, with net revenue retention of 117%, compared with 125% a year earlier.

Bango said the figure reflected continued growth from existing customers and zero churn among live customers.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 7% to $16.4m from $15.3m, while cash EBITDA improved by $2.5m to $2.3m, compared with a negative $0.2m in 2024.

Net debt at year-end increased to $9.2m from $1.8m.

Bango said it added 12 new Digital Vending Machine customers during the year, taking the total to 39 from 27 at the end of 2024.

Active subscriptions managed by the DVM increased by almost 60% year-on-year to 24m, while more than 130 subscription services are now connected to the platform.

The company said its DVM customers include seven of the top eight telecoms operators in the US, with new customers secured in Japan, South Korea, Turkey and South Africa, as well as a leading European bank operating in 24 countries.

It also launched a fully integrated 'Super Bundling' solution to enable customers to build and manage multi-product subscription hubs.

"2025 marked a pivotal year for Bango as we delivered strong growth in recurring revenue and reached a key financial inflection point with positive cash EBITDA," said chief executive Paul Larbey.

"This performance reflects continued momentum in our Digital Vending Machine, where active subscriptions grew significantly and drove a 30% increase in annual recurring revenue.

"We expanded the DVM's global footprint with a record number of new enterprise customers, deepened our relationships with leading telcos, and expanded in verticals such as financial services, reinforcing our position at the center of the growing subscriptions bundling economy.

"At the same time, the payments segment continued to generate strong cash flows, supporting investment in our high-margin, DVM platform."

Bango said its financial profile strengthened during the year, supported by an enhanced loan facility from NHN and a $15m revolving credit facility with NatWest.

Gross margins expanded by more than 600 basis points to 84% from 78%, while core administrative expenses fell by $2.9m despite foreign exchange cost headwinds of about $0.9m.

The company also completed the migration of the remaining DoCoMo Digital routes from its Frankfurt data centre to the cloud.

Permanent headcount was reduced to 164 at the end of 2025 from 219 a year earlier, while employee engagement remained above 80%.

Research and development capital expenditure fell 11% to $13.6m from $15.3m.

"Profitability improved materially during the year, driven by a combination of revenue mix shift towards higher-margin DVM revenues and the operational efficiencies delivered across the business," Larbey said.

"These improvements enabled Bango to generate positive cash EBITDA and establish a more scalable and efficient operating model to support future growth."

For 2026, Bango said trading had started well, with three new DVM customer wins, one of which has been contracted, and continued expansion from existing customers.

First-quarter revenue rose 13% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA increased 39%, reflecting higher-quality revenue and the annualised impact of cost reductions made in 2025.

The board said it had decided to shift away from legacy, low-margin payment routes, creating modest revenue headwinds but improving the quality of earnings.

It also said delayed DVM opportunities from the fourth quarter of 2025 had not yet been signed, with discussions continuing in the second quarter of 2026.

Bango said recent developments in the Middle East had made the macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop more uncertain.

Although there was no impact on the first quarter, the board said it remained aware of the potential effect on customer processes and sales cycles.

The company said it remained confident in its medium-term growth prospects, supported by a strong pipeline and positive start to the year, and expected the subscriptions segment to generate positive cash EBITDA in 2027.

At 1147 BST, shares in Bango were down 7.35% at 71.8p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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