Cornerstone FS (AIM: CSFS), a cloud -based provider of international payment, currency risk management and electronic account services to SMEs, released a trading update on Friday with its financial performance expectations for fiscal 2021.
For the full year, ending in December, the company is expecting revenue of approximately £2.3 million, which is around 38 percent higher than the previous year. The performance of the second half of the year was strong with approximately 75 percent higher unaudited revenue from the first six months.
“The Group had been experiencing increased trading momentum, which has continued until the end of its financial year,” the company noted. “In particular, and in line with the Group’s stated strategy, revenue generated by clients that the Group serves directly has also increased significantly.”
New Team in Asia
Additionally, the press release shared with Finance Magnates highlighted that the new Asian team that was onboarded in the second half of the year was a key contributor to the group’s performance. It opened a new Dubai office last September.
Moreover, it revealed that the proportion of revenue generated from the clients whom the group directly serves increased to approximately 56 percent compared with 12% for the previous year.
In addition, revenue generated through the introducer network reduced from 88 percent to around 44 percent of the total revenue. “This would represent a reduction in indirect business, on a reported basis, due to some revenue that the Group previously generated through its introducer network now being serviced directly. However, on an underlying (unaudited) basis, there was an increase in revenue generated through the Group’s introducer network in 2021 compared with 2020,” the company noted.
Furthermore, Cornerstone is expecting around 51 percent gross margin in 2021, improving significantly from the previous year’s 29.8 percent.
