Travel software company Serko has made a bigger half year loss as border restrictions weighed on its business, but it's looking to raise $85 million to fund future expansion and possible acquisition.
Serko reported a lift in revenue as travel restrictions started to ease in its home markets, resulting in bookings more than doubling. Photo: 123rf
Key numbers for 6 months ended September vs year ago:
- Net loss: $15.3m vs $10.1m
- Revenue: $9.5m vs $5.1m
- Expenses: $25.3m vs $17.8m
- No dividend
The company, which has developed software used to book and track business travel and expenses, had a lift in revenue as travel restrictions started to ease in its home markets, resulting in bookings more than doubling, while it continued to spend on new staff and product development.
It had also made further progress in moving business travel customers of Booking.com onto a new Serko developed platform.
Chief executive Darren Grafton said the company had decided to press on with development of its software and the roll out of services even though the company had been "burning cash" at a rate close to $3m a month, to be ready for a resumption of more normal travel conditions.
"We are poised for growth out of this pandemic and the investment to date has proven our ability to grow from a regional leader to a truly global player."
"Our focus is now on scaling the business to activate the opportunities we have ahead of us," he said.
To fund that expansion Serko would raise $85m, through a $75m placement of shares to big investment funds, with another $10m worth of shares set aside for existing shareholders.
The funds have been earmarked for expanding current operations and the Booking.com rollout, finding new clients among business travel suppliers, and to fund a potential acquisition which it was currently doing due diligence on.
The company had forecast full year revenue between $21m and $25m, with a medium-term goal of $100m and a particular focus on expanding its North America reach.