Zamano pre-tax profits rise 71% as further acquisitions on the table

MOBILE phone applications provider Zamano said yesterday that it is progressing well with its previously stated aims of expanding through acquisition and identifying new geographic markets.

The Dublin-based firm, which is listed on the IEX market here and the AIM market in London, yesterday issued its first set of full-year results as a public entity. Ahead of market expectations, the results showed that Zamano generated a turnover of €13.3 million in 2006, which was up by 36% on 2005.

Pre-tax profits were up by 71% at €2.24m, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at €2.49m, up 53% on the previous year. This was the company’s fourth successive year of growth, according to managing director, John O’Shea.

“It’s pleasing that our first set of results delivered after our flotations are ahead of market expectations. Our continued investment in our platform and application suite has led to significant efficiency improvements and facilitated further traffic growth, thereby delivering the 53% EBITDA increment on 2005. The board was particularly pleased with the resulting profit margins — setting Zamano amongst the market leaders in terms of the ratio of profit to revenues,” he said.

Zamano, which develops services such as ringtones, games and premier text messaging services for the mobile phone market, is looking at making strategic acquisitions in its core geographical markets of Ireland and Britain.

According to Mr O’Shea, nothing has been finalised as yet but the company is making good progress and very hopes to make a positive announcement in due course.

In terms of potential new geographic markets, nothing has been identified as yet but the company is understood to be keen on targeting low-risk territories.