Lingo Media sees English language learning products standout in pandemic world

Toronto-based education technology company has suite of products designed to teach English to a global population Novel speech recognition technology allows users to analyze pronunciation and simulate real-life conversation scenarios Major strategic partnerships in Asia and Latin America What Lingo Media does: Lingo Media Corporation (CVE:LM) (OTCMKTS:LMDCF) is an education technology company that develops English language learning products to support learners — from classroom to boardroom. The Toronto-based company publishes English language learning material in multiple media formats for international markets. It develops books, tapes, videos, compact discs, and online content. With over 1.6 billion people globally learning the language, English-as-a-second language (ESL) products and services are an estimated $56 billion industry, according to data from Ambient Insight. What’s more, digital ESL applications are booming in both market value and popularity, democratizing access to the world’s most popular language. Against this backdrop, Lingo has developed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) learning platform with a complete suite of products that seamlessly blends education and technology by way of two distinct business units: ELL Technologies and Lingo Learning. ELL Technologies provides online training and assessment for English language learning, while Lingo Learning is a print-based publisher of English language learning programs in China, where Lingo Media has a particularly strong presence. Lead product ELL Technologies is aimed squarely at academic institutions, governments, and corporations offering lessons and teaching material. A major differentiating feature of the product is Lingo’s speech recognition technology that allows users to analyze pronunciation and simulate real-life conversation scenarios. Users can record and compare themselves with native speakers to match their pronunciation. How is it doing: Fueled by a remote learning boom during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Lingo Media closed out 2020 with a net profit of C$1,110,609 versus $162,566 in 2019.  Revenue for 2020 came in at slightly over C$2.1 million compared to just under $2 million in 2020, with $958,766 of that revenue generated in 4Q, compared to $831,508 in the year-ago quarter. Throughout the year, the group entered into new partnerships with universities and language programs in Asia and Latin America.  Lingo has secured two sales contracts in Japan – it's first in the country. In China, the company has signed a new distributor in its core market and boosted its content for both Pre-A1 and Pre-A levels. Lingo started developing a new achievement test and continued to work on its new mobile application. The group also gave teachers access to its library of nearly 1,800 hours of learning to be assigned to students. On the print-based learning side in China, Lingo is working on a series of “how-to” training videos in English for teachers to use Lingo Learning’s books more effectively. In Latin American, Lingo subsidiary ELL Technologies is holding webinars to help English teachers adjust to teaching remotely. The webinars showcase best practices from the company’s online education programs and help teachers hone the skills to keep students engaged in a remote environment. For teachers, ELL has added file assignment and lesson assignment features, which let teachers supplement the regular curriculum by assigning additional content to specific students. For its white label business and other customers, there are new interface customization options available for institutions or course providers to add their own logos, colors, and course descriptions. The group has also entered a distribution agreement with JPH Consultoria Academica in Guatemala and renewed an agreement with FloridaBlanca in Colombia for an additional year. It also renewed its agreement with Innovalingua de Mexico SAS de CV in Mexico and inked new distribution deals in Ecuador. Significantly, Lingo has enhanced its online English language learning capabilities with new reporting functionality and an improved chat feature in its new Learning Management System (LMS) and developed a resource allocation functionality feature for the LMS for teachers. ELL Technologies has inked an agreement to sell its interactive language learning solutions to Accent Plus SA -- which is using ELL Technologies' English for Success (EFS) and Portuguese learning solutions in a blended environment that combines in-class instruction with interactive online tools outside of the classroom. Lingo has a multimillion-dollar contract with Colombia’s National Training Service, SENA, where it is developing a digital content library. Similarly, ELL Technologies secured a sales contract with FOCUS Your Mind Colombia to implement its new online English language learning program, one of several agreements in the country. Nearby in Peru, the company has a distribution partnership with Telefonica Group, a dominant telecommunications firm in the region. It also has alliances with education publisher Gale Cengage and language assessment tool provider iTEP. The company’s business model rests on establishing alliances with academic intuitions. In keeping with this tack, ELL Technologies in the US has signed an agreement to license its interactive English for Success solution to Liberty University in Virginia.  Inflection points: Implement functionality and feature upgrades to its platform for teachers and students Work with channel partners to renew existing contracts and build new business relationships Expand distribution network to drive new sales contracts Evaluate M&A opportunities to position the company for accelerated growth Release new product features and expand its library of content What the boss says: "We expanded our sales and marketing team in 2020,” Lingo Media CEO Gali Bar-Ziv said in a statement accompanying the company's 2020 results. “These EdTech industry veterans helped identify new opportunities and market channels and enhanced our engagement with our existing distributors. We are very encouraged with the increased adoption of remote and online learning and expect this trend to positively impact our 2021 results and beyond." Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham