New finance talks underway for ‘turnaround’ Aferian

The company is also negotiating terms for a new finance deal, amount unspecified – all of which has offered shareholders a semblance of encouragement after a worrying downturn.

Chief executive Mark Carlisle certainly has no doubts. He says: “Aferian is now a turnaround story. We have started FY2025 strongly and are significantly ahead of the same period last year.

“Given the increased level of sales orders already received, we expect a greater than 10 per ent revenue growth in FY2025, positive Adjusted EBITDA for the year, and positive free cash flow. Once new financing terms are secured, the company will be well positioned for the future.”

The share price was up more than 25 per cent to a still modest 2.82p this morning, but Aferian seems to have reversed the slide.

Group revenues took a hammering in the last full year – down from $47.8 million in FY 23 to $26.3m but H2 revenue improved by 16 per cent on the first half to $14.1m.

The adjusted EBITDA loss was $0.7m against a FY2023 profit of $1.6m but the statutory operating loss was slashed by more than a fifth from $63.9m to $12.5m. Aferian still ended the year with more than double the net debt at $12.7m (FY2023: $6.3m).

It negotiated an extension of $16.5m senior lending facilities to September 2025 and a $1.3m term loan arranged by its largest shareholder Kestrel Partners LLP to January 2026. Discussions with lenders to further extend the debt facilities beyond September 2025 are in progress.

Aferian was buoyed by four major customer wins in Q4 and by the launch of 24i Video Cloud, a comprehensive next generation streaming platform. A leadership transition saw Sebastian Braun appointed as CEO.