Appen shares slide as revenue shrinks
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
More news: Appen shares slumped on the ASX after the data services company reported a year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue.
Appen shares were down 10.3% to $2.35 by 12:20pm AEDT, having rocketed over 600% over the last 12 months.
Appen revenue jumps on AI growth
The news: Appen revenue has jumped on the back of growing demand for large language models (LLMs) as the data services company looks to claw back what it lost when Google walked last year.
The numbers: Appen posted group quarterly revenue of $66.7 million, up from $54.1 million in the previous three months. The figure remains down however on the $71.9 million it made one year prior when Google made up around one third of its business.
Appen recorded an underlying cash EBITDA of $3.2 million on the back of growing gross margins. It has $54.8 million cash on hand, down from $62.4 million following its October cap raise.
The cash burn covered the final part of its cost out program and rising contractor costs on the back of more projects.
Appen shares were up 3.82% to $2.72 in early trading.
The context: Appen has been through a tumultuous few years, booming during a period of low interest rates and on the back of higher spending by its big tech clients. The share price then crashed out as it lost key Google contracts, faced shrinking tech budgets and pivoted to cater to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) space, offering low cost workers to sift through and sort data sets.
Bottoming out 12 months ago, the share price has since been on a tear, rising 670% as it looks to catch the AI boom.
The source: ASX announcement
