The share price of Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) climbed around 7% today after the technology company announced its FY19 result to the market.
Appen's FY19 result
Appen reported that its total revenue increased by 47% to $536 million, with Relevance revenue growing by 37%, or 28% in constant currency terms, to $430 million. Speech and Image revenue increased by 32% to $67.7 million – constant currency growth was 24%.
Figure Eight revenue came in at $37.9 million, with a rebound to "high growth" with year-end annual recurring revenue of $33.7 million.
Appen's statutory earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 29% to $87.9 million and underlying EBITDA increased by 42% to $101 million. Management said that its organic underlying EBITDA, which excludes Figure Eight, increased by 51% to $107.3 million.
Underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) rose by 32% to $64.7 million. However, statutory net profit was down slightly to $41.6 million because of expenses relating to the Figure Eight acquisition.
Appen's dividend
The Board of Appen decided to increase its full year dividend by 25% from 4 cents per share to 5 cents per share. The final dividend is 50% franked.
The company did say it would be reviewing its capital management priorities, including the dividend policy.
Appen outlook
Appen is guiding that the company's full year underlying EBITDA for the year to 31 December 2020 will be in the range of $125 million to $130 million, which would be growth of 23.7% to 28.7%. However, the outlook is susceptible to upside or downside from factors including timing of work from major customers.
In terms of the coronavirus, Appen said that its China operations are young and its targets are modest. Therefore, it only expects a negligible impact on the FY20 revenue and earnings.
