Lenco Mobile Inc., a Santa Barbara-based global developer and operator of advertising platforms for the mobile and online markets, expanded its connectivity with global wireless carriers while netting a profit of just less than $7.1 million in 2010, according to last year’s financial results.
Lenco Mobile provides technical and marketing solutions designed to make Internet and mobile broadcasting profitable for broadcasters and advertisers. Its online and mobile advertising platforms provide strategies to attract, retain and monetize relationships with consumers.
“We expanded our global footprint in 2010 by making significant progress in developing relationships and establishing or testing connectivity with wireless carriers in Mexico, Colombia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States,” president and CEO Michael Levinsohn said in a news release. “In many of these countries we are now able to send MMS and SMS messages with multiple carriers.”
Lenco acquired a fully integrated signaling gateway solution that provides location-based services to deliver high volumes of messages to mobile phones. Levinsohn said the company’s merger with Jetcast Inc., which was renamed Lenco Media Inc., has provided Lenco exposure to the high-growth mobile and online entertainment sector as well.
“Our mobile messaging platform is now one of the most advanced, if not the most advanced, in the SMS and MMS sector, with significant throughput capacity,” he said.
Lenco’s Internet radio advertising network beat out Pandora, CBS Radio and Clear Channel for the No. 1 spot in the entertainment-radio category in total minutes, total page views and potential reach with 37.9 million unique visitors per month in the United States.
“Historically, we have been constrained by the lack of capital necessary to realize our growth potential,” Levinsohn said. “In the third quarter of 2010, we attracted additional capital into Lenco Mobile, providing third-party validation of our potential and, more importantly, enabling us to now aggressively pursue our market opportunities.”
The company’s total assets grew from $19 million to $47.8 million from 2009 to 2010 while working capital improved by $8.4 million. During the year, the company also sold its online education lead generation business for $2.8 million.
“The education lead generation business peaked in mid-2010 and started to show a decline in revenue and profitability towards the end of the year,” Levinsohn said. “This, together with the increased regulatory intervention and focus on the educational sector as a whole, prompted us to sell that business.”
Lenco’s gross profit decreased by about $150,000 from 2009 to 2010.
— Noozhawk staff writer Alex Kacik can be reached at akacik@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.