Eckoh is the UK's leading provider of multi-channel customer service and secure payment solutions.

Our customer self-service solutions enable enquiries or secure payment transactions to be made without the need to talk to a contact centre agent. This reduces operational costs and enables your agents to focus on more complex enquiries.

Enhancing the customer experience with self-service solutions:
•Intelligent call routing
•Secure PCI DSS compliant card payments
•Customer identification and verification
•Real-time information
•Data capture
•Customer surveys
•Product purchase
•Balance enquiries, subscriptions and renewals
•Delivery tracking
•Ticket booking
•Outbound notifications

ECKOH PLC MEETINGS

Eckoh plc regularly holds meetings with its major institutional investors where general presentations are given covering the interim and preliminary results. All Directors have access to the Company's nominated advisers who give feedback from shareholders and receive copies of broker update documents.

In addition to regular financial reporting, significant matters relating to the trading or development of the business are disseminated to the market by way of Stock Exchange announcements. Eckoh plc is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) under the ticker symbol "ECK". The RNS announcements released by the Company to the Stock Exchange are provided.


http://www.eckoh.com/

NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES



http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4647694

Contract Win

RNS


RNS Number : 5292L

Eckoh PLC

13 August 2013




For Immediate Release 13th August 2013

Eckoh secures first client under partnership agreement with

Capita Customer Management



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), the UK's leading provider of multi-channel customer service and secure payment solutions, today announces that it has secured a five-year contract with Capita Customer Management to provide technology support to one of its existing clients, a leading UK distribution business. This is the first client to be secured through the partnership agreement with Capita Customer Management which was previously announced on the 8th April 2013.

Building on Capita Customer Management's existing contract with the client to provide customer contact centre services, the initiative will help to enhance the client's customer service.

Capita Customer Management and Eckoh will collaborate to upgrade the client's automated services, to cater for significant growth and the management of unforeseen peaks in call traffic, such as at Christmas time, and this is expected to go live in the autumn.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer at Eckoh, commented:

"We are delighted to be working with Capita Customer Management on this contract, the first from our new partnership. By combining Eckoh's multi-channel technology solutions that allow customers to self-serve, alongside Capita Customer Management's fully integrated, multi-channel customer services, we can deliver an improved customer experience. We look forward to developing our alliance with Capita Customer Management and expect to secure further significant opportunities with them over the coming months."

-ends-

AGM Trading and Business Update

RNS


RNS Number : 6276L

Eckoh PLC

14 August 2013








14 August 2013




Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")



AGM Trading and Business Update





Chris Batterham, Chairman of Eckoh will provide the following trading statement at the Company's AGM later today:



"I am pleased to report that the Company has continued to experience strong levels of new business activity during the first Quarter of the new financial year and that current trading remains in line with market expectations.



Contracts secured in the prior financial year have contributed to the trading performance of the Company comfortably exceeding that of the corresponding period in the prior year. We have also announced significant five year contract wins with a major financial services company and with Capita Customer Management to provide technology support to one of its existing clients, a leading UK distribution business. These contracts will commence generating revenue in the second half of the financial year ensuring additional growth over the remainder of the year and beyond.



In addition to this organic growth we can report that integration of Veritape Limited, a provider of call recording software and on-premise secure payment solutions, is progressing well and that since the acquisition it has already secured both contracts with new clients and additional orders from existing customers. The rationale for broadening Eckoh's product mix through the Veritape transaction is already showing signs of success with a number of existing customers now evaluating our expanded portfolio of products.



The enlarged Eckoh group continue to enjoy a fluid pipeline of opportunities and are particularly enthused about the developing partnership arrangements which are in place. The combination of Eckoh's established multi-channel customer proposition and secure payment solutions coupled with the additional uplift from the acquisition of Veritape gives the Board confidence that the growth seen in recent periods will continue in the current financial year and foreseeable future."

First Capita-linked contract signed

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com/researchreports/eckoh140813flash.pdf

Ex-Dividend
21 Aug 13 Eckoh PLC [ECK] (0.25 p)

Material contract win

RNS


RNS Number : 0572S

Eckoh PLC

04 November 2013









For immediate release

4 November 2013




Material contract win

Eckoh secures 10 year contract worth a minimum of £11 million



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), the UK's leading provider of multi-channel customer service and secure payment solutions, today announces that it has secured a ten-year contract worth a minimum of £11 million to provide a suite of self-service applications to a large tier 1 UK telecoms operator.

The contract, secured in partnership with a Channel Partner, is expected to lead to increased market expectations for the next financial year and beyond.

As part of the agreement, Eckoh will deliver a range of advanced speech recognition applications, of which the most significant is EckohASSIST, to enable customer queries to be handled more quickly and efficiently than through the legacy touchtone services. The initial services are expected to go live in spring 2014.

EckohASSIST enables all inbound calls to be answered with an automated greeting that simply asks the caller 'how can I help you?' and then allows them to verbally respond in a completely natural manner. If it is difficult to confirm the caller's requirement automatically, the spoken audio is streamed instantly to a 'hidden' contact centre agent who can classify the call manually and assist the service.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer at Eckoh, commented:

"Today's announcement represents a significant milestone for Eckoh as this is the largest single contract we have ever been awarded and will be delivered over the longest period. Securing this agreement clearly validates our strategy of investing in the development of key channel relationships and underpins our market leading position in providing complex speech recognition services."

-ends-

Eckoh shares advance on record contract win
By Jamie Ashcroft November 04 2013, 11:18am Chief executive Nik Philpott says the contract is a significant milestone.Chief executive Nik Philpott says the contract is a significant milestone.

Shares in voice recognition software specialist Eckoh (LON:ECK) advanced after it unveiled its biggest contract win in the company’s history.

The ten-year £11mln contract will see the company provide ‘self-service’ software to a major telecoms firm.

Voice recognition software EckohASSIST is one of the programs being provided to enhance telephone based customer queries.

Eckoh revealed the initial services under the contract will get underway in the spring.

Chief executive Nik Philpott says the contract is a significant milestone.

“Securing this agreement clearly validates our strategy of investing in the development of key channel relationships and underpins our market leading position in providing complex speech recognition services," he said in a statement.

Stockbroker N+1 Singer described it as a strong endorsement, and said that Eckoh is showing strong positive momentum.

As a result of the new business win the stockbroker has upgraded its profit forecasts for Eckoh – for the 2015 financial year it is increased by 9% and for 2016 it increases 8%.

“This is the largest and longest single contract the group has ever been awarded,” analyst Tintin Stormont said in a note.

“It is a significant validation of the group’s strategy to invest in the development of key channel relationships and underpins the group’s market leading position in providing complex speech recognition services.

“We believe there are further opportunities for the group to exploit within its channel partners.”

Looks like this contract win is going to take some time to filter in to the figures.
See what happens with the sp tomorrow . May sell.

Channel strategy driving growth

http://www.eckoh.com/files/cms/374_Eckoh041113Update%20Edison.pdf

:-)

By Northland Capital
May 01 2014, 8:26am

TMT: Eckoh (LON:ECK)

FY PRE-CLOSE: IN LINE, STRONG OUTLOOK


•FY adj. PBT expected to be in line with forecast with double digit organic growth supplemented by the acquisition of Veritape in June 2013. Strong H2 performance.
•Contract wins across Travel, Logistics, Telecommunications and Retail sectors will start to generate revenue in FY15.
•Successful launch of Eckoh Inc in the US for secure payment solutions. Market interest is being driven following the Target data breach in December 2013.
•Cash at year end of £7.3m (FY13: £8.5m) available to fund investment programme and potential acquisitions. Increasing the FY dividend by 25% to 0.3125p.
•FY results scheduled for 10th June.


NORTHLAND UK VIEW: Positive pre-close and a strong outlook statement given contract wins in H2. US represents a massive opportunity as it has been slower to adopt secure payments though standard wealth warnings about US expansion apply. Growth opportunity reflected in the current rating (33.4x FY15 consensus EPS) and a share price progression that has been relatively immune to the recent tech sell off.

Significant US Partnership Agreement

RNS


RNS Number : 1089J

Eckoh PLC

09 June 2014







For Immediate Release

9 June 2014












Eckoh plc



("Eckoh" or "the Company")

Significant US Partnership Agreement

Eckoh signs exclusive five-year 'multi-million' dollar distribution agreement



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), a global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, today announces that it has signed a five-year exclusive agreement with a leading US based provider of business process outsourcing and communication services ('the Partner'), to distribute its secure payment products across the US.

The agreement, which commences on 1st July 2014, has minimum revenue payments to Eckoh over the five-year term of the agreement totalling $24m, which become payable based on achieving certain sales criteria, measured annually. Eckoh's hosted products will be made available from October 1st 2014 via the Partner's extensive telephony infrastructure that annually processes billions of phone-based transactions on behalf of many of the largest US corporations. This agreement will enable Eckoh to target new customers and the Partner's existing US customer base, which includes over 80% of the Fortune 500 and covers a wide-reaching portfolio of sectors, including financial services, healthcare, retail and telecommunications. The agreement also enables Eckoh to develop its own direct sales capabilities, under the umbrella of the partnership.

Eckoh has a range of secure payment products that are designed to help merchants become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ('PCI DSS') and to reduce the risk of fraud by eliminating card data from contact centres and IT environments. Eckoh's CallGuard product can be deployed on the customer's site or hosted in the Cloud, and enables contact centre agents to take card payments from callers without seeing, hearing or accessing their card data in any way.

As previously articulated, the interest in the US market for deploying secure payment solutions has increased substantially as a result of a number of high profile data breaches that have occurred in recent months. Eckoh's products enable organisations to achieve PCI compliance in one of the most challenging areas of "card-not-present transactions" made over the phone and as a result the board believe there are further substantial opportunities in addition to today's partnership agreement for Eckoh in this market.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer at Eckoh, commented:

"Today's announcement represents a significant strategic milestone for Eckoh coming so soon after outlining our U.S. expansion plans. Given that our US partner is such a preeminent communications and outsource provider, working with so many large US organisations, we believe they are the perfect partner to help us quickly deliver significant sales growth from the US market. Our first mover advantage, combined with the uniqueness and simplicity of our products that will be delivered through a trusted partner, is a combination that we believe US customers will find compelling."

-ends-

Full year results

RNS


RNS Number : 1938J

Eckoh PLC

10 June 2014






10 June 2014





Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")



Full year results for the year ended 31 March 2014



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), a global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 31 March 2014.



Financial Highlights:

· Revenue up 28% to £14.0m (FY13: £11.0m)

· Gross profit up 23% to £10.2m (FY13: £8.3m)

· Adjusted* Operating profit increased by 48% to £2.2m (FY13: £1.5m)

· EBITDA** increased by 32% to £3.2m (FY13: £2.4m)

· Cash generated from operating activities increased by 91% to £4.8m (FY13: £2.5m)

· Cash and short term investment balance remains strong at £7.3m (FY13: £8.5m) following £3.6m cash outflow from acquisition of Veritape Limited ('Veritape') in June 2013

· The Board recommends a 25% increase in full year dividend to 0.3125 pence per share for the year ended 31 March 2014 (FY13: 0.25 pence per share)



Operational Highlights:



· Strong trading performance from both core Eckoh business and Veritape

o Combined hosted and on-site payments proposition driving significant sales opportunities in the UK and internationally

· Capita partnership gaining market traction

o New client mandates include Yodel and Telefonica UK (O2)

· New payment contracts secured in the period include 5 multi-year contracts with large blue-chip companies, combined new contracts worth a minimum of £17m in value.

· 100% renewal of 12 clients with contracts expiring in the period, including Affinity Water, Barclays, Utilita, BAA and two government agencies

· U.S opportunity to provide secure payment solutions continues to gather significant momentum

o Subsidiary trading entity Eckoh Inc. is now in operation and US website now live - http://www.eckoh.us/



Current Trading:

· 5-year Exclusive Distributor Agreement with large US partner

· Patent awarded for Eckoh CallGuard product





*Adjusted Operating Profit is Operating Profit excluding expenses relating to share option schemes and acquisitions

**EBITDA is the profit before tax adjusted for depreciation, amortisation, finance income, finance expense and expenses relating to share option schemes and acquisitions





Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer, commented today:



"We are delighted to be announcing another strong set of full year results. Our business pipeline continues to expand and the opportunities that now exist from our established channel partner network are significant.



"The launch of our US subsidiary is another important milestone for the Group as we look to capitalise on our strong presence in the secure payment market in the UK. The opportunities that exist in North America for our services are vast and through our new partnership we would hope to rapidly gain market traction given the lack of credible alternatives to our existing product portfolio.



We have started the new financial year well and expect to replicate the strong performance from previous years. Our ongoing investment in both people and products will enable the Group to continue to capitalise on a number of significant market opportunities."

Eckoh shares higher as pipeline grows

By Giles Gwinnett

June 10 2014, 10:49am
For the year to end March, revenue was up 28% to £14mln compared to £11mln in 2013, while gross profit added 23% to £10.2mln (2013: £1.5mln).
For the year to end March, revenue was up 28% to £14mln compared to £11mln in 2013, while gross profit added 23% to £10.2mln (2013: £1.5mln).


Eckoh (LON:ECK) shares edged higher as it posted another set of strong final results and said its business pipeline continues to expand.

The period saw the secure payments specialist, whose offerings include speech recognition technology, gain five multi-year contracts with large blue chip firms and the combined total of all new contracts was worth a minimum of £17mln.

It also comes hot off the heels of news yesterday, that it had secured a five year multi-million dollar tie-up with a US communications firm, underlining its acceleration of growth in the US.

For the year to end March, revenue was up 28% to £14mln compared to £11mln in 2013, while gross profit added 23% to £10.2mln (2013: £1.5mln).

The company is recommending a 25% increase in full year dividend to 0.3125 pence per share (2013: 0.25p a share).

Chief executive Nik Philpot told investors: "Our business pipeline continues to expand and the opportunities that now exist from our established channel partner network are significant. The launch of our US subsidiary is another important milestone for the group as we look to capitalise on our strong presence in the secure payment market in the UK."

He added: "We have started the new financial year well and expect to replicate the strong performance from previous years. Our ongoing investment in both people and products will enable the group to continue to capitalise on a number of significant market opportunities."

Separately today, the group said it had been granted a patent for the transaction security method for its CallGuard product, which makes calls compliant with the latest industry standards.

Eckoh shares gained 1.94% to stand at 45.875p.

Purchase of head office freehold

RNS


RNS Number : 2902N

Eckoh PLC

25 July 2014






For Immediate Release 25 July 2014



Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")



Purchase of head office freehold



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), a global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, is pleased to announce that it has successfully reached agreement to acquire the freehold of its existing Hemel Hempstead head office for a consideration of £2.9m.



The purchase of the freehold will result in an annual rent saving of £0.2m. The new arrangement will also allow Eckoh to take ownership of an additional 4,050 square feet of office space in addition to the current 11,670 square feet currently rented, which will support ongoing growth and the Company's increasing head count.



At the end of the current lease in March 2015, the freehold to the premises will be acquired for £2.9m. A deposit of £0.4m is payable immediately and will be funded from existing cash reserves with the remaining £2.5m to be paid upon completion in March 2015. Options for funding the remaining consideration are currently being explored.



Chief Executive Officer, Nik Philpot commented:



"The acquisition of the freehold is a very positive step for Eckoh, not only does it secure our office requirements for the immediate future at a lower overall cost, it also avoids what would have been an expensive and disruptive move to alternative premises. The additional space will allow us to comfortably accommodate our medium term planned increases in headcount and provide a better overall working environment for our staff."

Contract Win

RNS


RNS Number : 7131O

Eckoh PLC

11 August 2014






PRESS RELEASE


For Immediate Release

11 August 2014




Eckoh PLC("Eckoh")

Eckoh signs new agreement and extends service offering with Tenpin



Eckoh plc (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, today announces that it has secured a new 3 year agreement with Tenpin Ltd, a leading operator of bowling and family entertainment centres across the UK.

Tenpin has been a client of Eckoh since 2012 when they signed a contract for EckohLOCATE, Eckoh's hosted, speech-enabled IVR solution to assist Tenpin customers locate their nearest bowling venue. The new agreement will see Eckoh provide Tenpin with a broad range of services including management of all inbound phone numbers, call routing, IVR and the provision of a live-agent contact centre which is due to commence from September 2014.

Eckoh's contact centre agents will assist Tenpin customers with numerous tasks, from locating their nearest individual bowling centre to dealing with bookings and promoting other services. In addition to this they will also be dealing with general queries and taking secure payments.

As a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Level One Service Provider, Eckoh will use its patented CallGuard product to ensure that all payments taken on behalf of its clients meet the necessary requirements set by the industry.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented:

"We are delighted that Tenpin is extending its services with us and believe our ability to provide an in-house contact centre which is geared specifically towards providing solutions that work alongside our market leading automation was central to our success.

We are seeing more clients recognising the benefits of combining their automated and live contact centre solutions with Eckoh to deliver a unified and comprehensive service to their customers. We look forward to working with Tenpin, and exploring further opportunities together."



Tenpin's Commercial Director Graham Blackwell commented,

"Over the last two years Tenpin has received exceptional IVR service and support from Eckoh. Their excellent service record made them a great choice for us when we looked for a new supplier of a complete end-to-end telephony solution including the live contact centre. We look forward to Eckoh providing an exceptional service for our customers whilst strategically driving both businesses forward with their continued improvement and development of their technology platforms.

- Ends -

AGM Trading and Business Update

RNS


RNS Number : 9620O

Eckoh PLC

13 August 2014







For Immediate release

13 August 2014




Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")



AGM Trading and Business Update





Chris Batterham, Chairman of Eckoh, will provide the following trading statement at the Company's AGM later today:



"Once again, I am pleased to report that the Company has seen a significant increase in revenue and margins during the first quarter of the new financial year and that current trading remains in line with market expectations.



Since announcing our year-end results in June, we continue to see positive new contract momentum being generated both organically and through our channel partners. This includes the recently announced three year contract win with Tenpin Limited to provide a broad range of Eckoh services for their bowling and family entertainment centres. We also today announce that we have won two three year contracts to provide payment services to a large financial institution and also a specialist provider of packaged account products and services in mobile handset protection. Coupled with the five multi-year contracts won in the second half of the prior financial year, revenue growth in the first quarter was extremely strong.



In June 2014 we announced that we had secured an exclusive agreement in the US with a leading US based provider of business process outsourcing and communication services. The early weeks of this arrangement have seen a significant amount of interest with a sales pipeline that exceeds the current existing pipeline in the UK. This has been supplemented by our direct sales activity in the US that has also seen some modest sized opportunities being won in recent weeks. We remain encouraged that the investment being undertaken in the US will result in significant profits for the Group in future periods."

US Update

RNS


RNS Number : 1847U

Eckoh PLC

14 October 2014







For immediate release

14 October 2014




Eckoh plc

("Eckoh" or "the Company")



US Update



Strong business and contract momentum from new US business



Eckoh plc (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, today confirms that its new US business continues to gather sales momentum, securing a new three year contract with Cooperative Response Center Inc ("CRC") to implement its secure payment solution CallGuard.



New US contract win



CRC is a leading contact centre and software provider with offices in Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas providing services to electric utilities, including round-the-clock dispatch and customer care, and monitoring of security and medical alarms. CRC serves over 300 members and associate members in 41 states, representing over 5.2 million consumers. The solution is expected to be live before the end of the year.



By deploying Eckoh's CallGuard solution, any CRC consumer making payments through the contact centre agent will automatically have their card payment data shielded from the agent, their desktop and the call recording system. This highly innovative solution assists organisations in complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards ("PCI DSS") and removes any risk of agent fraud within a contact centre.



US business update



Since Eckoh's AGM statement in August 2014, the Company has continued to make excellent progress with the development of its US business, investing in both people and infrastructure. Sales and product training with our exclusive reseller, one of the leading providers of business process outsourcing and communication services delivering services to over 80% of the Fortune 100, was concluded by the end of August. Since then a significant sales pipeline has been developed, including a number of multi-million dollar prospects. Whilst our US business is still at an early stage of development, the initial signs are extremely promising and have the potential to exceed our initial expectations.



The implementation of our new technical platform into data centres in Dallas and Washington DC, which links to the telephony platform of our reseller and enables the hosted CallGuard service to be offered for sale, was completed on schedule at the beginning of October. We are now able to offer CallGuard as either an on-site installation or as a hosted service in the US giving our customers complete flexibility.



The Company therefore remains confident that the investment currently being undertaken in the US will result in significant profits for the Group in the medium term. Interim results for the six months ending on 30 September 2014 will be announced on 25 November 2014 and will report a significant increase in revenue and margin compared to the previous year, in line with market expectations.

Interim Results

RNS


RNS Number : 7465X

Eckoh PLC

24 November 2014







For immediate release

24 November 2014






Eckoh plc

('Eckoh' or 'the Group')



Unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2014



A further period of significant growth combined with successful US execution



Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), a global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, is pleased to announce its unaudited results for the six months to 30 September 2014.



Financial Highlights:

· Revenue increased 24% to £7.8m (H1 2013/4: £6.3m), recurring revenue now 81% of total revenue

· Gross margin increased 27% to £5.6m (H1 2013/4: £4.4m)

· Adjusted* operating profit increased 41% to £1.0m (H1 2013/4: £0.7m)

· Adjusted* EBITDA increased 29% to £1.6m (H1 2013/4: £1.2m)

· Debt free financial position with £4.1m cash (H1 2013/4: £4.3m)



Operational Highlights:

· New US division gathering sales momentum - three new contracts secured since results in June

· Strong new business progress within core UK operations

o Eight new contracts secured in the period including Co-operative Energy, Group Central Services Limited, Lifestyle Services Group, Bromford Housing, Tenpin Limited, Brookfield Utilities and a large UK financial services company

· Long term contract renewals secured with Barclays and Royal Mail

· Dual site technical platform to support large scale CallGuard and OneProx hosted solutions in the US now completed and ready for use

· Acquired freehold for Hemel Hempstead headquarters

· UK patent awarded for CallGuard product



Current Trading:

· Recently awarded new three year contract via a channel partner for a payment solution with a leading insurance finance company

· US sales pipeline significantly higher than initial expectations driven by indirect sales partner activity and direct Eckoh mandates

· US subsidiary trading profitably in the second half of 2014/5 to date

· OneProx product now live with first client

· Current trading remains in line with market expectations



*excludes acquisition costs, amortisation of acquired intangibles and share option expenses



Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer, commented today:



"Our strong first half performance has seen the Group deliver excellent growth in our core UK business, securing a significant number of new contracts in addition to making substantial progress in developing both our US business and sales pipeline.



"We have been delighted with the response to our secure payments offering in the US, where data security is now an issue under intense scrutiny from consumers, corporations and the White House itself. We will look to leverage this interest through both our channel relationship with the West Corporation and our direct sales efforts. Having started to secure contracts in the US it is very pleasing to report that our US operations are already trading profitably, earlier than anticipated and less than a year after their inception.



"In view of this strong operational progress supported by the new contracts secured in the first half, the Group remains well positioned to deliver continued growth this year and beyond."

Additional Transport for London Contract Win
RNS
RNS Number : 8307B
Eckoh PLC
12 January 2015

For immediate release
12 January 2015






Eckoh PLC ("Eckoh")

Additional Transport for London Contract Win

Eckoh signs four year customer services contract with Transport for London

Eckoh plc (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, today announces that it has won a new four year agreement with Transport for London ("TfL"), to manage all of their inbound telephony requirements.

Eckoh has worked with TfL since 2009 providing a range of self-service solutions, including EckohASSIST for automated journey planning using advanced speech recognition.

This separate contract, which will begin in early 2015, will see Eckoh manage all of TfL's inbound telephone numbers and provide EckohROUTE, an intelligent call-routing solution that gives TfL complete control of how and where their inbound calls are handled. The system routes calls to contact centres, departments, outlets or branches based on call routing plans and configurable parameters that TfL can define. This will provide TfL with complete flexibility to cater for all circumstances, especially at times when the transport network comes under pressure from unpredictable events such as severe weather conditions.

Under the terms of the new contract, Eckoh will also address TfL's strategic requirements to consolidate the number and complexity of automated functions that are currently fulfilled by separate solutions. On an annual basis TfL currently receives over 15 million inbound calls which will now all be handled by Eckoh.

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented:

"We are delighted to have secured this additional contract with Transport for London. Our innovative call-routing platform not only offers them the full control they need to provide the most up-to-date information and steer customers to the correct point of contact, but will also ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction.

EckohROUTE enables Customer Services departments to plan their call routing, no matter how unpredictable the circumstances. We believe this system sets the benchmark for performance and sophistication for call-routing options in the Customer Services market, and we anticipate this contract will lead to further opportunities."

- Ends -

Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 3139L
Eckoh PLC
27 April 2015



For immediate release
27th April 2015






Eckoh PLC

("Eckoh" or "the Group")

Trading Update

Eckoh (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer service solutions, today announces that trading for the twelve months ended 31 March 2015 was a year of significant growth, in line with market expectations.

During the year, strong sales and margin momentum has underpinned an increase in Adjusted* Operating Profit of over 50% at the same time as investing in establishing the Group's US operations.

This excellent performance has primarily been driven by the organic growth of Eckoh's proposition in the UK, where we have secured over 20 new contracts during the year as well as successfully renewing 100% of all significant contracts that came up for renewal. In the US market we have also made encouraging progress with sales of our secure payment proposition, and since the contracts update issued on March 31st we are delighted to announce that the Group has secured an additional US contract. This agreement for a CallGuard On-site installation is with a leading provider of customer experience, engagement and growth solutions and is another indication of the ongoing strength of our US pipeline.

In view of this growth, and the significant opportunity that is available for our payment proposition in the US, we have accelerated our US investment plans with our headcount now standing at six US employees. This expansion and investment is expected to deliver financial benefits in the years ahead.

The Group has maintained a robust balance sheet during the year and our financial strength continues to support our stated growth objectives and our investment in the business, particularly in the US. As we enter the new financial year, we are well placed to continue to build on the progress achieved over the last 12 months and therefore the outlook remains very positive for Eckoh.

The Board looks forward to providing a further update at the time of full year results, which will be announced in the week commencing 15 June 2015.

Nik Philpot, CEO of Eckoh, commented, "We are very pleased to be able to announce another year of strong growth in the UK that has been achieved whilst investing and successfully establishing our presence in the US. This strong momentum has continued into the new financial year and we remain confident of our prospects of further significant growth in the years ahead."

*excluding amortisation of acquired intangible assets, acquisition costs, non-recurring admin expenses and expenses relating to share based payments

-- Ends -