TIDMVIS
RNS Number : 6460U
Vitesse Media PLC
26 October 2017
26 October 2017
Vitesse Media plc
("Vitesse", the "Company" or the "Group")
Unaudited interim results
Business restructured; well positioned for growth
Vitesse Media plc (AIM: VIS), the AIM-quoted digital media and
events business, announces its unaudited interim results for the
six months ended 30 September 2017.
Financial highlights
-- Placing raised funds of GBP2.15m, used to fully repay all
debts and loans, and starting to invest in the business - as a
result, balance sheet significantly strengthened and invoice
discounting facility discontinued post-period end
-- Total revenues of GBP1.01m (H1 FY16: 1.1m)(1)
-- Loss of GBP213k (H1 FY16: profit GBP3k)(1)
(1) The H1 2016 comparative reporting period is for 6 months
ended 31 July 2016 and therefore does not give a like-for-like
representation due to the change in the Company's financial year
end to 31 March
Operational highlights
-- Simon Stilwell appointed as Chief Executive Officer
-- Group restructured into four core divisions: Technology, Diversity, Investment and SME
-- Three new events launched in the period: Data Summit, Women
in Finance Awards and Tech Leaders Awards
-- Small Business Grants initiative launched in September 2017
-- Attendance at 2017's Investor Allstars event and Data 50
Awards increased by 8% and 49% respectively, compared to the 2016
events
-- Website traffic increased by 63%, compared to 2016
Post-period highlights
-- First Women in IT Awards USA event scheduled to take place in March 2018
-- Recruitment of key skills underway to bolster current skillset
-- Appointment of Ed Riddell as Finance Director, separately announced today
Simon Stilwell, Chief Executive of Vitesse Media, said:
"The period under review has been one of exciting change for
Vitesse, with new management appointments and an oversubscribed
capital raise to provide funds for growth and investment in a new
growth strategy.
"Our vision is to build a group with a simple purpose: to create
and deliver high quality content to our active communities, and in
so doing enable a better and healthier business environment. We
have the foundations in place to achieve this and our new group
structure will enable us to better serve our clients and more
efficiently use our media networks.
"We are continuing to focus on building scale, quality and
attendance at our existing events while developing new events for
the future. We continue to actively assess acquisition
opportunities for our four divisions of Technology, Diversity,
Investment and SME."
For further enquiries please contact:
+44 (0)20 7250
Vitesse Media plc 7035
Simon Stilwell, Chief
Executive
Ed Riddell, Finance
Director
Stockdale Securities +44 (0)20 7601
Limited 6100
Tom Griffiths
Ed Thomas
+44 (0)20 3865
Alma PR 9668
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett
Robyn Fisher
Susie Hudson
About Vitesse Media plc
Vitesse Media plc is an AIM-quoted leading B2B media business
specialising in events, digital activities, data and research
across four key sectors: Technology, Investment, Diversity and SME.
Vitesse's ambition is to create content that informs, communities
that engage and brands that inspire in order to enable a better
business environment for our sponsors and clients.
Vitesse's flagship titles include SmallBusiness.co.uk, Growth
Company Investor, Information Age, GrowthBusiness.co.uk and What
Investment. Vitesse Media is also responsible for a growing
portfolio of high-profile events, including The Quoted Company
Awards, Women in IT Awards, British Small Business Awards and Data
50 Awards, amongst others.
For more information visit www.vitessemedia.com
Chairman's statement
Vitesse has had a difficult history, faced a variety of
challenges and operated within severe financial constraints. These
results mark a step change in both the financial health and
direction of the Company, which is encouraging to see.
In August, we appointed Simon Stilwell as Chief Executive who
has already implemented a remarkable amount of change since he
joined. Under Simon's leadership, Vitesse has a robust strategy and
a clear vision and purpose; to create and deliver high quality
content to our active communities, and in so doing enable a better
and healthier business environment.
In September, we completed a placing of new shares to raise
GBP2.15m to provide the funds to pursue that strategy and vision at
pace. The placing proceeds have put the Company on a much stronger
financial footing and now that all debts and loans have been repaid
and invoice discounting facilities have been discontinued, we still
have net cash of approximately GBP1.9m to support our plans. With a
significantly strengthened balance sheet, we are able to invest in
our organic growth initiatives and, importantly, are also in a
position to acquire complementary businesses.
As we continue to reshape our business in order to more
resolutely pursue growth, it is necessary to make some one-off
changes which as a result will incur additional costs immediately.
However, we are confident that they will pay dividends in future.
As an example, the Board has decided it prudent to begin moving
away from the declining Display Advertising market towards more
long-term visible revenue streams that better utilise our content
creation and strong industry insight. We have also decided to build
our team by making a number of key hires, ultimately ensuring we
are able to capitalise fully on the numerous opportunities we have
identified.
I am particularly pleased to have seen the launch of the Small
Business Grants initiative in the period as well as the successful
first Women in Finance Awards. Our leading position on gender
diversity has been strengthened by the launch of Women in IT Awards
USA, which is due to take place in March 2018. Events in the period
are showing the benefits of long term engagement with sponsors and
we are looking to forge long term relationships with key partners
in all areas. There are other exciting developments ahead with the
launch of at least six new events in the coming twelve months which
will comprise events in the Technology, Diversity and SME
areas.
I am delighted to announce separately today the appointment of
Ed Riddell as Finance Director. Ed has been with the Company for
twelve months and been instrumental in assisting to improve the
financial position of the business. Niki Dowdall has continued as
Executive Director with special responsibility for Events, helping
to boost growth in this area significantly over the period.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team and
shareholders for their ongoing support and look forward to
delivering on the opportunities available to the Group.
David Smith
Non-Executive Chairman
Chief Executive's Statement
Review of the period
I joined Vitesse on 11 August 2017. From the outside, I saw a
business that had some great brands but had suffered from a
combination of too much debt, a constrained financial position and
some unfortunate circumstances with the sudden illness of the
previous Chairman, as evidenced by the results reported for the
period. In spite of this, the Group had continued to grow and
deliver high-quality content and events as well as helping to
highlight several key issues, not least around the gender imbalance
in the workplace.
Since August, we have acted swiftly to address our issues, first
by completing a placing of new shares to raise GBP2.15m in
September which has allowed us to repay our debts and loans and
discontinue the invoice discounting facility, significantly
strengthening our balance sheet and net cash position. These funds
enable us to pursue our strategy and vision and we have immediately
begun to invest in key areas of the business, notably data
management, SEO and social media.
Growth strategy
We have reshaped the business into four clear business sectors
with defined leadership, namely Technology, Diversity, Investment
and SME. Each of these areas has a range of events and media assets
as well as other revenue generating areas. As experts in their
particular areas, the teams are well positioned to grow and develop
their sectors, supported by a central resource of event knowledge,
editorial and financial support. Our ambition is to develop all of
these areas by creating content that informs, communities that
engage and, in Diversity in particular, a brand that inspires. Over
time we will grow these communities, share best practice across our
sectors and continually improve our understanding of how to
effectively access our audiences.
We have seen good growth in event attendees, and website traffic
increased by 63% compared to 2016. This indicates that we are on
the right track, and with an enhanced offering of key skills and a
better understanding of our clients' needs, we expect to see
continued uplift. Key sponsors are looking for better engagement
with attendees and the fact that we have control of our own media
outlets allows us to maximise profile alongside our internally
generated high-quality content.
The Group continues to assess acquisition opportunities to
complement our growth strategy. We are already assessing some
exciting opportunities that we hope will meet our criteria. Areas
of interest to us have the following characteristics: a widely
distributed community that needs content to remain informed and/or
compliant, a need for networking to develop business and
communicate, and conferences or awards events to get together and
celebrate success.
Business Model
Vitesse creates content that informs, communities that engage,
and brands that inspire. Our combination of events and media assets
mean that we can deliver a high-quality, joined-up offering for our
clients. We are a key B2B media partner which can not only help
businesses engage at the right level and with the right audience,
but maintain that engagement over a longer time frame. It is our
belief that the life cycle of an event has lengthened and this
gives our sponsors and clients greater exposure to the market and
people they are seeking to address. We can control that access with
our websites, publications and communities. It is likely that many
of our new launches will be more focused on Networking events and
conferences to run alongside our awards programme as we believe
there are interesting opportunities in this area.
The other area which has been underdeveloped in Vitesse in the
last few years has been data. The Company collects an enormous
amount of data on a daily basis and collectively has a deep
knowledge of the communities it addresses. I believe that there is
a good source of future revenue in our data business in the form of
data analytics, data bases and potential directories. It is
currently a reasonably untapped store of value and we will need to
invest in people in this area to obtain best value over time.
We have restructured the business into four areas as
follows:
Technology:
Assets we have in this area include Information Age and two
events, Tech Leaders Summit and the Data 50 Awards.
The Tech Leaders Summit, historically a daytime-only event, has
been successfully extended to also encompass an evening awards
ceremony. Similarly, the Data 50 Awards now offers a day conference
in addition to the evening awards ceremony. There is no doubt that
the opportunity for senior technology figures to meet together
remains popular and we will continue to develop these formats. We
have developed the first of a series of sector-based technology
events which will be in the second half of the next financial
year.
Diversity:
Our Diversity assets include the Women in IT Awards, now in its
fourth year and attracting over 1,000 guests, as well as the Women
in Finance Awards, which was launched in June 2017 again to address
a lack of diversity in a specific community.
We believe this issue is not just related to these two
industries and our growth plan is twofold; to take these events
internationally, but also to look at other sectors and other
diversity issues outside of gender, including Disability and LGBTQ.
We have already launched Women in IT USA, due to be held in March
2018. There has been a great deal of recent press coverage on
gender diversity in financial services and, in general, diversity
in the workplace is a key boardroom issue and we will seek to
develop activities to help companies address this vital issue. In
addition, to assist in addressing another important issue, the
imbalance of women in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) careers, we are launching two female only
events: the Tomorrow's Tech Leaders Today careers fair in January
2018 and the Future Stars of Tech in April 2018.
Investment:
Our Investment assets include What Investment and Growth Company
Investor, two subscription-based publications. The Quoted Company
Awards continues to do well, focusing on the people behind the
businesses in the quoted company arena.
Both What Investment and Growth Company Investor have lacked
investment over the last two years and we will be reinvigorating
both products to provide a fuller offering to the loyal
subscription base.
SME:
Our SME assets include www.smallbusiness.co.uk and
www.growthbusiness.co.uk, which continue to grow. Page views in the
period have grown 47% to just over 2m and 73% to just under half a
million respectively in the period. They are instrumental in
promoting our activities in this area, including the British Small
Business Awards, where attendees for this year's event are up
nearly 40% on 2016.
British Small Business will always be a key part of the economy
and we will be holding more activities to help small businesses
both at a national and a regional level. Our recent launch of the
Small Business Grants initiative is an example of how we can help
build a stronger community of small businesses.
Central support:
Our central support for these areas involves event expertise,
editorial support, financial planning and data management. More
efficient structuring of our data on an ongoing basis will enable
us to make more informed decisions on the direction of these
sectors and help us achieve cross-sector benefits. In response to
GDPR, we are currently working to ensure that we are compliant in
all areas. Over the coming years, we believe data will play an
enormous part in our industry and, therefore the investment we make
in this area will be of benefit to the Group as a whole, both in
shaping its strategic direction as well as being a revenue centre
itself.
Outlook
After some years of instability and financial strain, Vitesse is
in a much stronger position. It has a more robust balance sheet
which has enabled it to launch new events and rapidly develop its
leadership in specific sectors, as well further develop its
existing brands.
We have an ambitious but well-structured organic plan that will
see the launch of six new events per year, up to the year ending 31
March 2020. This will see us take our Diversity series overseas and
continue to expand our reach in Technology. We believe our
combination of content and events is of value to companies looking
to reach their target audiences and also to showcase their own
abilities.
A key step is for Vitesse is to move back into profit. Whilst we
have a strong second half weighting to our numbers due to the
timings of our larger events, we have good visibility on these
events which are running ahead of budget. At this stage, we believe
the change in mix in our media sales to a more visible revenue
stream, plus the necessary investment in key staff should allow a
return to profitability in the current financial year, albeit at a
low level. We expect to see a more significant return to
profitability in the financial year ending 31 March 2019.
We are confident that the new strategy, underpinned by
investment into the robust core business, positions the Group well.
We look forward to driving the business forward over the coming
years and delivering returns for our shareholders.
Simon Stilwell
Chief Executive
Financial Review
Group results
Group revenue decreased by 5.7% to GBP1,009k (H1 FY16: 1,070k),
with an increase in Events revenue of 47.2% to GBP633k (H1 FY16:
GBP430k) offsetting a 41% decline in Media revenue to GBP375k (H1
FY16: GBP639k).
The decline in Media revenue was due to a combination of
difficult market conditions for Display Advertising and a
predominantly new sales team starting during the last half year. As
stated in the Chairman's statement, the Board has decided it
prudent to begin moving away from the declining Display Advertising
market towards more long-term visible revenue streams that better
utilise our content creation and strong industry insight.
The increase in Events revenue was due to the launch of several
new events, as well as the development of our larger existing
events, which were primarily grown through an increase in
marketing, and by capitalising on Vitesse's reputation for
delivering high-quality events.
The Company reported a loss for the period of GBP213k (H1 FY16:
profit GBP3k)
Consolidated statement of comprehensive position
6 month period 6 month period 14 month period
ended ended ended
30 September 30 September 31 March
2017 2016 2017
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Revenue 1,009 1,070 2,671
Cost of
Sales (403) (308) (962)
Gross Profit 606 762 1,709
Administrative
expenses (818) (754) (1,898)
Operating
Profit/(Loss) (212) 8 (189)
Finance
Costs (1) (5) (17)
Profit /(Loss)
before Tax (213) 3 (206)
Income
Tax expense - - -
Profit/(Loss)
For Period (213) 3 (206)
Profit/(Loss)
Per Share
Attributable (0.32p) 0.01p (0.32p)
Consolidated Position of Financial Position
30 September 30 September 31 March
2017 2016 2017
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
NON-CURRENT
ASSETS
Goodwill 729 729 729
Other
intangible
assets 1,352 1,399 1,359
Property Plant
and Equipment 8 10 7
2,089 2,138 2,095
CURRENT ASSETS
Inventories - 16 -
Trade & Other
Receivables 319 603 382
Cash and Cash
Equivalents 2,105 128 116
2,424 747 498
TOTAL ASSETS 4,513 2,885 2,593
--------------------------------- -------------------------------- ---------------------------------
EQUITY
Share Capital 4,025 2,950 2,950
Share Premium 4,444 3,369 3,369
Share Option
Reserve 118 118 118
Other Reserves 5 104 104
Retained
Earnings (5,285) (4,886) (5,072)
TOTAL EQUITY
ATTRIBUTABLE 3,307 1,655 1,469
TO OWNERS OF
PARENT
CURRENT
LIABILITIES
Trade and
other
payables 1,151 1,002 976
Borrowings 55 228 148
TOTAL
LIABILITIES 1,206 1,230 1,124
TOTAL EQUITY
AND
CURRENT
LIABILITIES 4,513 2,885 2,593
--------------------------------- -------------------------------- ---------------------------------
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
Share-based
Share Share payment Other Retained
Capital Premium reserve Reserves Earnings Total
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Balance at
31st March
2016 2,950 3,369 118 104 (5,278) 1,263
Total
comprehensive
loss for
the period 3 3
Balance at
30th September
2016 2,950 3,369 118 104 (5,281) 1,469
Total
comprehensive
loss for
the period (209) (209)
Balance as
at
31st March
2017 2,950 3,369 118 104 (5,072) 1,469
Total
comprehensive
loss for
the period (213) (213)
Issue of
Share capital 1,075 1,075 (99) 2,051
Balance as
at
30th September
2017 4,025 4,444 118 5 (5,285) 3,307
Consolidated statement of cashflows
6 month 6 month
period ended period ended 14 month
30 September 30 September period ended
2017 2016 March 2017
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Cash Flows from
Operating Activities
Profit/(Loss)
before taxation (213) 3 (206)
Adjustments
Finance Costs 1 5 17
Amortisation
and Impairments 13 (7) 101
Depreciation
of Property,
Plant and
Equipment 4 3 4
Share Based
Payment Charge 1 1 -
Operating Cash
Flows before
movements (194) 5 (84)
in working capital
Decrease/(increase)
in inventories - - 15
(Increase)/decrease
in receivables 63 (214) 28
Increase/(decrease)
in payables 174 201 252
Cashflows from
Operations 43 (8) 211
Interest Paid (1) (8) (17)
NET CASH USED
IN OPERATING
ACTIVITES 42 (16) 194
INVESTING ACTIVITES
Purchase of
property,
plant and
equipment (5) (2) (10)
Purchase of
intangible
assets (6) (30) (89)
NET CASH USED
IN INVESTING
ACTIVITIES (11) (32) (99)
FINANCING ACTIVITES
Proceeds of
Issue of ordinary
shares 2,051 - 250
Repayment
of invoice
discounting
and other
borrowings (93) 107 (279)
NET CASH (USED
IN)/GENERATED
FROM FINANCING
ACTIVITES 1,958 107 (29)
Net Increase
in Cash and
Cash equivalents 1,989 59 66
Cash at beginning
of period 116 69 50
CASH AND CASH
EQUIVALENTS
AT OF PERIOD 2,105 128 116
Notes to the Interim Results
1. Basis of preparation
These unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial
statements are for the six months ended 30 September 2017. They
have been prepared in accordance with recognition and measurement
principles of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as
adopted by the European Union. This report should be read in
conjunction with the annual financial statements for the year ended
31 March 2017, which have been prepared in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by
the European Union and International Financial Reporting
Interpretations Committee ('IFRIC') Interpretations and the
Companies Act 2006, as applicable to companies reporting under
IFRS.
The financial information in this interim announcement does not
constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of
the Companies Act 2006. The unaudited interim financial statements
were approved by the Board on 25 October 2017.
The comparative financial information for the 14 month period
ended 31 March 2017 does not constitute statutory accounts within
the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. The statutory
accounts of Vitesse Media plc for the 14 month period ended 31
March 2017 have been reported on by the Company's auditor, RSM UK
Audit LLP, and have been delivered to the Registrar of
Companies.
The accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the
unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements are
consistent with those followed in the preparation of the Group's
annual financial statements for the 14 month period ended 31 March
2017.
These financial statements have been prepared under the
historical cost convention.
The financial information for the six months ended 30 September
2017 is unaudited.
Nature of operations and general information
Vitesse Media plc is a leading B2B media business specialising
in events, digital activities, data and research for the
technology, SME business and high-net-worth investment
industries.
Vitesse Media plc is the Group's ultimate parent company. It is
incorporated and domiciled in England. The address of Vitesse Media
plc's registered office is 5th Floor, 6 St. Andrew Street, London,
EC4A 3AE. Vitesse Media plc's shares are admitted to trading on the
AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Vitesse Media plc's consolidated interim financial statements
are presented in Pounds Sterling (GBP), which is also the
functional currency of the parent company.
2. Segmental Information
For the 6 month period
ended 30th September
2017
Diversity Investment SME Technology Total
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Revenue 148 153 391 317 1,009
Cost of Sales (67) (53) (183) (100) (403)
Gross Profit 81 100 208 217 606
Administrative
expenses (145) (187) (257) (211) (800)
Contribution
(EBITDA) (64) (87) (49) 6 (194)
Reconciliation of segment
result to profit before
tax
Depreciation and
amortisation (17)
Share Option
Charge (1)
Finance Costs & Similar
Charges (1)
Profit/(Loss)
Before Tax (213)
For the 6 month period
ended 30th September
2016
Segmental
Information
Diversity Investment SME Technology Total
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Revenue 181 528 361 1,070
Cost of Sales - (67) (157) (84) (308)
Gross Profit - 114 371 277 762
Administrative
expenses (101) (198) (259) (196) (754)
Contribution
(EBITDA) (101) (84) 112 81 8
Reconciliation of segment
result to profit before
tax
Depreciation and
amortisation 4
Share Option
Charge (1)
Finance Costs & Similar
Charges (8)
Profit/(Loss)
Before Tax 3
3. Earnings Per Share
6 month period 6 month 14 month
ended period ended period ended
30 September 30 September 31 March
2017 2016 2017
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Profit/(Loss)
attributable
(GBP) (213,400) 3,282 (205,560)
Weighted average
number of shares
in issue 66,323,927 64,561,632 64,037,523
Earnings/(Loss)
Per Share (0.32p) 0.01p (0.32p)
4. Dividends
No dividend is proposed for the 6 months ended 30 September
2017.
5. Availability
Copies of this announcement are available from the Company's
website www.vitessemedia.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
IR OKPDQCBDDKKB
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