For release at 07.00, 31^st March 2022

Toople PLC

("Toople" or the "Company")

AGM Statement and Update on Trading

Toople, a provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs, will today hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the offices of Fieldfisher, Riverbank House, 2 Swan Lane, London EC4R 3TT at 10.00 a.m.

At the AGM, Richard Horsman, Chairman, will make the following statement:

"I am pleased to update shareholders on positive trading in both Q1 and Q2 of the current financial year, as the business executes on its strategy of achieving higher revenues with strong margins and stable cash generation.

"During the first quarter, overall demand for our services remained strong and correspondingly when compared to Q4 of the last financial year, revenues have increased by 9%, in line with management expectations.  This has translated into a growth in gross profit of 17% and an improvement in EBITDA of 19% from FY21 Q4 to FY22 Q1.  This momentum has carried on into Q2 of our current financial year, with orders particularly strong in March."

"Furthermore, we are experiencing a material increase in Toople's high bandwidth leased line orders.  These orders have significantly higher values and greater margins than our core broadband orders.  This is significant as it gives us better visibility on our revenue given that 50% of the initial revenue consideration is received upfront and 50% paid on customer installation completion.  Often customers require civil engineering work to complete installation and in some instances this can give a lead time of three to six months for completion."

"Importantly we are growing the business without any substantial increase in the cost of customer acquisition and our fixed operating costs remain stable.  Our sales support function in Durban South Africa, is now back to working in the office following the easing of Covid restrictions, and that is translating into higher productivity and sales figures.  We are also achieving increased customer contact rates compared to those achieved in the past 18 months.

"Overall, the Board considers the outlook for Toople to be very positive and believes that increased revenue and gross profit figures will be achieved by the Company as the UK economy learns to live with Covid-19 and returns to normal.  We are well positioned to capitalise on new opportunities that are presenting themselves in light of the more positive business environment." 

-ends-

For further information please visit www.toopleplc.co.uk or contact:

About Toople PLC

Toople PLC is incorporated in the UK and listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.   The business currently trades under four main brands: toople.com; dmsluk.co.uk; broadbandandphones.co.uk; checkthatcompany.co.uk.  Toople.com provides bespoke telecoms services for its fast growing target market of UK SMEs with between one and 500 employees.  Services offered by the Group include business broadband, fibre, EFM and Ethernet data services, business mobile phones, cloud PBX and SIP Trunking and Traditional Services (calls and lines) all of which are delivered and managed via the Group's proprietary software platform.  The Group's wholly owned subsidiary  DMS Holding (DMSL) provides unified communication services in the UK ranging from a single phone line to a multi-site unified comms VoIP platform, delivered via a network of telecoms and IT carriers and content providers across the UK including BT Business, BT Global Services, Gamma, EE, Vonage, TalkTalk Business and O2.  DMSL acts as a BT Premier re-seller for broadband connectivity, mobile and fixed voice and cloud services and is responsible for over 250,000 BT customers and over 400,000 Revenue Generating Units.  The Company also owns a telecoms price comparison website and a service offering company credit reference checking and reports.  These complement the Group's IT and telecoms services.