Appen shares soar on higher revenue guidance
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More news: Appen shares have surged in early trading after the data services company provided revenue guidance for FY25.
Appen shares had rallied 19.5% to $1.47 at 10:32am AEST.
While the revenue guidance is an improvement on FY24, it is still short of its previous revenue when Google was a client.
Appen expects higher revenue but still recovering from loss of Google contract
The news: Appen has announced FY25 revenue guidance of between $235 million and $260 million, an improvement on FY24 but short of its previous revenue when Google was still a client.
The numbers: The data services company also said that it expected “positive underlying EBITDA for 2025” but did not specify any figures.
In FY23, Appen posted revenue of $273 million, down from $234.3 million in FY24.
The context: At the company’s annual general meeting today, chief executive Ryan Kolln will say that he is optimistic about Appen’s FY25 revenue opportunity, which will be supported by predictable project work from “large US tech customers”, sustained growth in China, and “less predictable generative AI related work”.
Earlier this year, Appen reported a year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue, which led to a slump in its share price.
Appen’s business benefitted when interest rates were low and big tech clients were spending big, but its share price stumbled when it lost a $126 million Google contract and tech budgets shrank. It has since pivoted to the generative AI space.
The company has also faced accusations from former contractors who said Appen slashed pay rates by up to 90%.
The source: ASX announcement
