(Alliance News) - Vianet Group PLC on Wednesday said the momentum for its Smart Zones division continued in financial year 2023, which started on April 1, boosting revenue growth.

Vianet is a Stockton-on-Tees, England provider of retail sales and volume monitoring systems.

For the six months that ended September 30, Vianet expects to report a revenue rise of 13% to GBP7.2 million from GBP6.3 million a year prior. It expects to report a pretax loss of GBP106,000, narrowed from GBP363,000.

Chair & Chief Executive Officer James Dickson noted that the predicted GBP7.2 million revenue is 85% of the pre-pandemic first half of financial year 2020 that ended on September 30, 2019, when it was GBP8.4 million.

"The improved results were primarily driven by revenue growth of 15% in Smart Machines and 12% in Smart Zones, with a recovery in activity levels in the company's major end-user markets gathering momentum. We are confident that our sales will continue to grow and that we will return to pre-pandemic monthly run rates in financial year 2023," Vianet said.

The company expects further results and sales growth in the second half that started on October 1.

"Component supply chain pressures are likely to have some impact on hardware margins into financial year 2024 and whilst we cannot escape the impact of that, the whole team is working hard to mitigate any such impact. Importantly, we have an exciting sales pipeline and the opportunity to significantly grow our high-quality recurring income streams. We are in good shape to move forward and deliver further improved results in the second half of this financial year and beyond," Dickson said.

Vianet will release its half-year results on December 6.

Vianet shares rose 9.7% to 56.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

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