Bango PLC Reports 66% Surge in Adjusted EBITDA and 20% ARR Growth in H1 2025 Interim Results

Bango H1 2025: EBITDA surges, ARR climbs, and the DVM keeps winning

Bango has posted a tidy set of interim numbers for the six months to 30 June 2025. Adjusted EBITDA jumped 66% to $6.7M on 5% revenue growth to $25.2M, while Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) rose 20% to $15.6M. The subscriptions engine – the Digital Vending Machine (DVM) – continues to pull ahead, even as the legacy payments routes had a mixed half.

There is still a statutory loss, and net debt has risen, but margins tightened up nicely and customer traction looks strong. Management says full-year revenue and Adjusted EBITDA are on track to meet market expectations.

Headline numbers investors should know

Metric	1H25	1H24	Change
Total revenue	$25.2M	$24.1M	+5%
Transactional revenue	$16.4M	$16.4M	Flat
DVM & one-off revenue	$8.9M	$7.7M	+15%
ARR	$15.6M	$13.0M	+20%
Net Revenue Retention	108%	159%	–
Adjusted EBITDA	$6.7M	$4.0M	+66%
Adjusted EBITDA margin	27%	17%	+10pp
Gross margin	84.3%	80.8%	+3.5pp
Loss for the period	($3.2M)	($4.2M)	+24%
Net debt (30 June)	$7.3M	$5.1M	+$2.2M

Quick definitions: ARR is the next 12 months of expected recurring revenue. Net Revenue Retention measures how much existing customers expanded or contracted over a year. Adjusted EBITDA strips out non-cash and one-off items. All figures are in US dollars.

DVM momentum: more subs, more geographies, more use cases

This half was about scale for the Digital Vending Machine – Bango’s platform that lets telcos, retailers and others bundle subscriptions at checkout. Active subscriptions managed by the DVM doubled year-on-year to 19.2M, and ARR increased 20% to $15.6M.

Bango won 7 DVM customers in the half, including:

• Another US telco, taking adoption to 6 of the top 8 US telcos.
• First DVM customers in South Korea and Japan.
• A new telco in Western Europe as that market shifts from analysis to implementation.

Beyond telcos, adoption is broadening. Sirius XM expanded its use of the DVM to bundle third-party services like Fox Nation to its own customers. A leading social media platform in India is leaning on DVM-powered telco bundles to grow subscriptions. And Altice became the first to go live with Bango’s new DVM CX – the consumer-facing interface that rounds out the “Super Bundling” proposition.

Post period, Bango signed DISH TV/Sling TV in the US, Telkomsel in Indonesia for Microsoft PC Game Pass, and MTN as the first DVM customer in Africa, starting in South Africa. With 116 content providers integrated, the network effect keeps improving for both resellers and content platforms.

Payments business: core routes up, legacy volatility a drag

Transactional revenue was flat at $16.4M. Under the hood, core high-margin routes grew 10%, but that was offset by volatility in a small number of higher cost-of-sales routes acquired with DOCOMO Digital. The migration of those routes from Frankfurt to the Bango platform is now complete, which should help operational efficiency and cost control in the second half.

Bango remains a major player in Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) – the tech that lets you charge purchases to your phone bill – including being Google Play’s largest DCB partner and the sole provider to NTT DOCOMO in Japan, as well as Amazon’s only DCB partner in Japan.

Margins and costs: operational leverage is showing

Gross profit rose to $21.3M, with gross margin up to 84.3%, helped by higher-margin DVM activity, procurement gains and better performance in core transactional routes. Adjusted EBITDA increased 66% to $6.7M, lifting the margin to 27% from 17% last year.

Cost discipline is visibly feeding through. Core administrative expenses fell by $2.2M after restructuring and efficiency initiatives. Exceptional items totalled $1.8M, mainly $1.3M of restructuring costs and $0.3M of data migration, with a small asset write-down. Management expects these migration and restructuring costs to fall away now the heavy lifting is done.

Net Revenue Retention came in at 108% versus 159% last year. Churn of live DVM customers remains at zero. The step-down in NRR deserves watching, but the absolute growth in ARR and the doubling of active subs indicate healthy expansion.

Balance sheet and cash: more liquidity, temporarily higher net debt

Bango refinanced in June, adding a $15.0M NatWest revolving credit facility and enhancing its NHN loan to support working capital and efficiency programmes. Net debt at 30 June was $7.3M, up from $5.1M a year ago and $1.7M at December, reflecting timing effects, one-off costs and the unwind of FY24 working capital benefits. Management expects net debt to reduce from Q4 2025 as savings and seasonal inflows land.

Cash at period end was $4.6M, up from $2.2M in 1H24 thanks to financing inflows. Capitalised R&D spend eased to $7.2M, with further reductions expected through 2H25 and into FY26.

Strategy check-in: Expand, Explore, Enhance, Extract

• Expand – lead subscription bundling via telcos. 6 of the top 8 US telcos now use Bango’s DVM.
• Explore – push DVM into retail, financial services and adjacent verticals. The new DVM CX supports this.
• Enhance – use platform data to help providers benchmark and optimise subscriber growth.
• Extract – run the payments business for cash and profit, now that the DOCOMO Digital migration is complete.

Bango also gained ISO22301 certification for business continuity – a nice operational de-risker when you’re handling subscription infrastructure for blue-chip clients.

Why this matters and my take

The investment case here rests on two things: DVM scale and operating leverage. On both counts, H1 delivered. ARR is up 20%, active subs doubled to 19.2M, and the EBITDA margin expanded to 27% as costs were taken out. New logos in Korea, Japan and Africa show the international runway, and the US footprint is now dominant.

On the flip side, Bango remains loss-making at the statutory level, Net Revenue Retention cooled to 108%, and net debt stepped up. Other income dropped to $0.4M and is inherently lumpy. The transactional business is still carrying some acquired volatility, although migrations and procurement wins should help.

Overall, this reads positively. If H2 lands as guided and efficiency savings flow, FY25 should meet expectations, setting up 2026 for the “significant cash generation” management is pointing to. Key things to watch in H2: further DVM customer wins, evidence of transactional stability post-migration, and net debt trending down from Q4.

Dates and resources for investors

• Investor presentation at 10:00 BST today via the Investor Meet Company platform – details in the RNS.
• Ask questions and see updates on the investor hub: https://bangoinvestor.com/link/rD16pP
• Register for the presentation: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/bango-plc/register-investor

Bottom line

Strong DVM traction, fatter margins and a clearer post-migration setup outweigh the headline statutory loss and higher net debt, in my view. Execution in H2 remains crucial, but Bango looks well placed to keep compounding ARR and to translate more of that into cash as the model scales.