The Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT) share price has been a positive performer on Thursday.
In early trade, the sports analytics company's shares are up over 3% to $1.95.
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Why is the Catapult share price racing higher?
Investors have been bidding the Catapult share price higher this morning following the release of a strong first half trading update.
According to the release, the company's Annual Contract Value (ACV) has surged 43% or US$17.6 million higher to US$58.8 million since this time last year.
Management advised that this was driven largely by demand for its software solutions in its largest vertical of Performance & Health, which grew at 33% annualised for the half to US$34.4 million. In addition, the recent acquisition of SBG also gave its ACV a lift. Excluding the SBG acquisition, Catapult's ACV growth was still a very strong 30% year on year.
The company's largest market, the Americas region, was a key highlight during the period. Catapult's Performance & Health ACV in the region grew at an annualised rate of 62% for the first half. This follows a significant strengthening in the operating environment for pro sports in the key market.
Another big positive is that the company's ACV Churn continued to improve from its already world-class SaaS levels. ACV Churn fell 40% for the year from 6.8% to 4.1%. Management notes that the usage of Catapult's software products is continuing to prove critical to its customers' daily workflows.
Also potentially giving the Catapult share price a boost is its unaudited cash balance. At the end of the period, Catapult had US$42.1 million of cash at bank. This is an increase of US$19.9 million over the previous six months.
Catapult's CEO, Will Lopes, was pleased with the company's performance.
He said: "I am very pleased with the results of the last six and 12 months and our ACV growth trajectory. It's extremely pleasing to see our core Performance & Health vertical continue to grow so strongly, coupled with our continued ability to cross-sell video solutions to those customers."
"With the addition of SBG to our product mix, we are confident in our ability to expand ACV significantly in the long term. We're also very pleased to see the large North American market return to strength following the challenges presented by the pandemic," he concluded.
