REG - Blackbird PLC - Interim Results
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RNS Number : 1011B Blackbird PLC 29 September 2025
29 September 2025
Blackbird plc
(the "Company")
Interim results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2025
Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD), the technology licensor, developer and seller of
both the market-leading cloud native video editing platform, Blackbird, and
the multiplayer editor in a browser, elevate.io, announces its interim results
for the six months ended 30 June 2025.
Ian McDonough, Executive Chair of Blackbird plc, commented:
"We have hit some important milestones for the business since the beginning of
the year.
"With elevate.io we have:
· launched our payment gateway and onboarded our first paying
customers;
· successfully completed a fund raise in July 2025 raising gross
proceeds of £2.1 million, to help fund elevate.io through its product market
fit phase;
· identified our first Ideal Customer Profile ("ICP") as
entrepreneurs, founders and small businesses;
· activated additional marketing channels as our confidence in the
readiness of elevate.io for our ICP has increased; and
· continued to develop elevate.io at pace with standard features (such
as "Boundary Boxes") and innovative features (such as "Instant review").
"With Blackbird we have:
· generated a positive EBITDA in H1 for the first time in the
Company's history; and
· successfully renewed contracts with IMG, CBS19 and, post period.
with CBS Sports, NCSA and the global winter games for 2026.
"Our vision with elevate.io is to change the way video content is created, by
building the first true co-creation platform for video. Businesses are
generally made up of teams and they need to collaborate. Collaboration is not
a niche in our ICP, it's the norm. Yet the workflows that exist today are
linear, slow and cumbersome. By design, elevate.io's solution not only
streamlines these but also removes the inherent frustration of the inefficient
workflows.
"We are well into our journey to fulfil this vision; in order to achieve this
transformational change to workflows we still have a way to go. Ahead of
scaling up, we are working on our product market fit, which involves filling
some feature gaps, such as captions and animated graphics. We plan for some
experimentation, evaluation and iteration to increase customer engagement,
retention and the conversion rate from free to paid subscriptions. Whilst
undertaking this work we have reduced our search spend, which has been the
primary paid user acquisition channel, and, together with moving to full
price, this has, as anticipated, impacted our paid user numbers. Instead, we
have begun seeding elevate.io through events and webinars, in order to attract
more engaged users and customers.
"Understanding our ICP, and having attended our first in person events for
teams who create content for marketing purposes, I have never been more
confident about elevate.io and our vision for it. We have the team and
technology to achieve this and the associated sizeable market opportunity. I
look forward to updating shareholders on our progress in the coming months."
Operational highlights (post period)
· Following completion of our fundraising in July 2025, we
have commenced new marketing channels for elevate.io to drive awareness and
subscription: Reasons given for customers ceasing to pay, based on our
surveys, include that elevate.io does not have features, such as captions,
animated graphics and mobile uploads, that they expect.
§ two advertisements commissioned for YouTube, that will air from October
2025;
§ organic YouTube channel started with weekly updates;
§ focus on organic Instagram channel, with a rise in followers from 600 to
over 2,000, with over 100,000 views;
§ attendance at Ideas Fest, Technology for Marketing, marketingSHOWCASE and
Greater New York Chamber of Commerce events in September 2025 with more to
follow in the coming months; and
§ collaborations announced with Enterprise Nation and Barclays Eagle Labs to
upskill entrepreneurs and founders on video creation.
· Enhancement of elevate.io, including:
§ "live review" launched, which aims to halve the time for 'review and
approve' workflows vs elevate.io's competitors;
§ first AI tool, being "text to speech", added;
§ start of Digital Asset Management functionality, which is anticipated to be
a key differentiator versus non-cloud competitors; and
§ Boundary Boxing functionality to enable a better user experience,
especially for less experienced editors.
· 697 paying customers have signed up to elevate.io with 344
of these paying at 26 September 2025. Reasons given for customers ceasing to
pay, based on our surveys, include that elevate.io does not have features,
such as captions, animated graphics and mobile uploads, that they expect. Our
product development is focusing on these items to address our ICP's needs and
we anticipate this will increase user engagement, retention and the conversion
rate from free to paid users.
· Monthly returning active users(1) for elevate.io
of circa 1,450 in August 2025, the latest completed month.
· Chaired a panel on the 'Superpowered Creator in
the World of AI' at the SXSW London conference.
· Successful deal renewals for Blackbird with CBS
Sports, NCSA and the global winter games 2026.
(1)users who used elevate.io in August but also in prior months
Financial highlights (post period)
· Placing, management subscription and retail offer raised c.
£2.13 million (before expenses) to fund elevate.io through its product market
fit phase.
· £1,235k* secured revenue for the year ending 31
December 2025 at 31 August 2025, down 17% vs prior year (2024 comparative:
£1,482k) due to some contract losses as detailed in the financial review
below.
· Contracted but unrecognised revenues of £1,602k* at 31 August
2025 up 23% vs prior year (2024 comparative: £1,299k). £466k relates to 2025
and £818k revenue relates to 2026 and the remainder to 2027. The multi-year
renewals with the global financial news organisation and FIFA were the main
drivers behind the increased balance.
* subject to exchange rate fluctuations
Operational highlights (during the 6 months ended 30 June 2025)
· Payment gateway launched for elevate.io on 11
February 2025.
· elevate.io was continually enhanced via a rapid
deployment method. During the period multiple features were added including
comments, looks and effects. The 'Learning hub' was released to assist users
to produce their video content and use elevate.io's feature set to the full.
· Selected to join Innovate UK's Global Business
Innovation Programme which included a fully-funded trip to attend the South by
Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas in March 2025.
· Renewals for Blackbird signed with CBS19, a
Charlottesville-based local TV station, and IMG.
Financial highlights (during the 6 months ended 30 June 2025)
· Revenues of £577k for the six months to 30 June 2025,
down 17% year on year (six months to 30 June 2024: £692k). The decrease arose
due to a combination of a one-off event in H1 2024 and some deal losses.
· Contracted but unrecognised revenues up 19% year on year
to £1,506k at 30 June 2025 (£1,262k as at 30 June 2024) due to the
previously announced renewals of some major deals in H2 2024.
· Decreased operating costs of £1,613k (six months to 30 June
2024: £2,028k), driven by reduced staff numbers.
· Reduced EBITDA loss of £1,146k (six months to 30 June 2024:
£1,408k) due to lower operating costs partially offsetting lower revenues (as
explained above).
· Similar net loss after tax of £1,561k (six months to
30 June 2024: £1,544k) due to reduced EBITDA loss pre share options (as
explained above) offset by higher amortisation and a lower R&D tax credit.
· Cash burn, excluding transfers from short term
investments, decreased by 23% to £1,496k (six months to 30 June 2024:
£1,900k) due to reduced overheads from lower staff numbers.
· Cash and short-term investments at 30 June 2025 of
£2,274k (30 June 2024: £3,770k) and no debt.
Contacts:
Blackbird plc
Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245
Ian McDonough, Executive Chair
Stephen White, Chief Operating and Financial Officer
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and
Broker) Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656
Nick Naylor / Piers Shimwell (Corporate Finance)
Amrit Nahal / Guy McDougall (Equity Sales and Corporate Broking)
About Blackbird plc
Blackbird plc operates in the fast-growing SaaS, Media and Entertainment and
content creation markets. Blackbird plc's patented technology allows for
frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing and editing in the cloud and it
has two products.
BlackbirdⓇ a market leading suite of cloud-native computing applications, is
used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, live
events and content owners, post production houses, other mass market digital
video channels and corporations.
elevate.io is the company's new online collaborative content creation
platform. elevate.io (http://elevate.io/) is built using Blackbird's core
technology and is aimed at professional teams and the fast growing Creator
Economy.
Blackbird plc also licences its core video technology, under its 'Powered by
Blackbird' licensing model, enabling video companies to accelerate their path
to true cloud business models.
www.blackbirdplc.com (http://www.blackbirdplc.com)
www.elevate.io (http://www.elevate.io)
www.blackbird.video (http://www.blackbird.video)
www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud
(http://www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud)
www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud (http://www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud)
www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc (http://www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc)
www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud (http://www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud)
Operational review
The period under review saw significant progress on elevate.io against the
Board's growth strategy. Specifically:
• elevate.io's payment gateway was launched seamlessly in February
2025 allowing customers to pay for the platform via monthly subscriptions;
• continued a rapid development deployment cycle leading to regular
updates of elevate.io adding functionality and features. Core features added
in the period included comments, looks and effects and a 'Learning hub' to
assist users to produce their video content and use elevate.io's feature set
to the full; and
• elevate.io has proved to be a stable, reliable platform and built
on the core Blackbird technology offers users speed, smoothness of playback
and navigation.
It is important to remember how far we have come since elevate.io was
conceived in the summer of 2022 and we started developing it in 2023. This has
happened quickly when compared to similar disruptive SaaS products in parallel
industries and has only been possible by leveraging our core Blackbird
technology and our know-how. Whilst we still have a way to go to fulfil our
vision for elevate.io we have proven the demand with over one hundred thousand
verified users signed up, with 697 having signed up to our paid Creator plan
and with 344 active paying customers at 26 September 2025. This is in line
with our expectations with elevate.io being in its product market fit phase.
Reasons given for customers ceasing to pay, based on our surveys, include that
elevate.io does not have features, such as captions, animated graphics and
mobile uploads, that they expect. These are being actively worked on. During
this phase, we will continue to engage with our ICP and will also evaluate
different marketing channels to increase our engagement, retention and paying
customer growth rate and prove our business model ahead of scale up.
To date we have undertaken minimal marketing spend on promoting elevate.io but
post completion of our fundraise in July 2025 this is changing as additional
marketing channels are being activated and coming on stream as we feel more
confident about the readiness of elevate.io for our ICP. We have identified
our first ICPs as entrepreneurs, founders and small businesses. Our current
feature set and our differentiated collaborative functionality is best suited
to content creation with this community. As we look to attract this ICP by a
series of events and webinars we have cut back on our search advertising
spend, which to date has been our primary paid subscription driver, until we
have increased engagement, retention and the free to paid user conversion
rate.
The Serviceable Addressable Market ("SAM") for elevate.io's vision is
$6.9billion(1) and, the Board believe that elevate.io can revolutionise how
video content is produced in this market. elevate.io's feature set is
improving at pace and throughout its product market fit phase we continue to
target customers via different channels to grow our paid user base and prove
the business model ahead of scale up.
(1) source Wainhouse Research 2022
Commercial activity during the first 6 months of 2025 on the Blackbird
platform has included successful renewals with CBS 19 and IMG and, post period
end with CBS Sports and NCSA, where Blackbird continues to be used on some of
the highest profile news and sports content. Through tight cost management
the division was EBITDA positive in the first half of the year for the first
time.
Financial review
H1 2025 revenue decreased by 17% to £577k compared to the corresponding
period last year (six months to 30 June 2024 £692k). The decrease arose from
deal losses from Arsenal, NRL and Sky News Arabia, as well as a non-repeating
event in H1 2024.
Contracted but unrecognised revenue was £1,506k at 30 June 2025, an increase
of 19% compared to 30 June 2024 (£1,262k) mainly due to the renewal of our
deal with the global financial news organisation.
Operating costs for the period decreased to £1,613k versus £2,028k in the
corresponding period. The year on year decrease resulted from tight cost
management including a reduction in staff costs.
EBITDA loss of £1,146k (six months to 30 June 2024: £1,408k) was due to the
reduction in operating costs partially offset by lower revenue as explained
above.
The net loss for the period £1,561k (2024: £1,544k) was in line with the
prior period due to a lower EBITDA loss, offset by decreased net financial
income from lower average cash balances compared to the prior period.
Cash burn in the period, excluding proceeds from share issues and transfers
from short-term investments, was £1,496k versus £1,900k in the same period
in 2024 driven by lower operating costs partially offset by lower revenues, as
explained above. The cash balance at the end of the period of £2.27 million
was bolstered post period by a £2.13 million fundraise (pre-expenses) to see
the Company through elevate.io's product market fit phase.
Outlook
The Blackbird division continues to operate within expectations. Through
strict cost management, we forecast that the division will achieve a positive
EBITDA in H2 and for the year ending 31 December 2025.
Post the period end, we successfully completed a fundraise of £2.1million to
see elevate.io through its product market fit phase. We are using these
proceeds to rapidly add additional features that our ICP expect and open up
our marketing channels to address this audience.
The Board is excited about the prospects for elevate.io and confident that
engagement, retention and paid user numbers for elevate.io will grow as we
focus on our ICP and look to achieve product market fit. With our world
class technology and team we have the opportunity to revolutionise existing
video production workflows and address a sizeable market opportunity.
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE SIX MONTHS
ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
Half year to Half year to Year to
30 June 30 June 31 December
2025 2024 2024
£ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 576,895 691,643 1,607,673
Cost of Sales (83,267) (49,681) (141,973)
GROSS PROFIT 493,628 641,962 1,465,700
Other income - - 2,000
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (1,612,858) (2,028,465) (3,604,239)
ADJUSTED EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, (1,119,230) (1,386,503) (2,136,539)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA pre share option expense)
Employee share option costs (26,545) (21,391) (47,044)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) (1,145,775) (1,407,894) (2,183,583)
Depreciation (7,387) (62,185) (82,498)
Amortisation (480,897) (220,498) (411,585)
(488,284) (282,683) (494,083)
OPERATING LOSS (1,634,059) (1,690,577) (2,677,666)
Net Finance income 73,458 146,679 259,928
LOSS BEFORE INCOME TAX (1,560,601) (1,543,898) (2,417,738)
Income Tax - - 70,887
LOSS FOR THE PERIOD (1,560,601) (1,543,898) (2,346,851)
TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD (1,560,601) (1,543,898) (2,346,851)
Earnings per share expressed in pence per share:
Basic and diluted - continuing and total operations (0.40p) (0.40p) (0.61p)
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AT 30 JUNE 2025
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
30 June 30 June 31 December
2025 2024 2024
ASSETS £ £ £
NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Other intangible assets 4,135,612 3,132,916 3,831,607
Property, plant and equipment 12,967 20,448 17,655
4,148,579 3,153,364 3,849,261
CURRENT ASSETS
Trade and other receivables 194,848 396,142 732,375
Current tax assets 70,889 0 70,887
Short-term investments 293,815 2,342,039 607,376
Cash and bank balances 1,980,177 3,275,509 3,162,581
2,539,729 6,013,690 4,573,219
TOTAL ASSETS 6,688,308 9,167,054 8,442,481
EQUITY
Issued share capital 3,096,618 3,096,618 3,096,618
Share premium 34,980,224 34,980,224 34,980,224
Capital contribution reserve 125,000 125,000 125,000
Retained earnings (32,190,614) (29,879,257) (30,656,558)
6,011,228 8,322,585 7,545,284
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Trade and other payables 677,080 844,469 877,198
TOTAL LIABILITIES 677,080 844,469 877,198
TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 6,688,308 9,167,054 8,422,481
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Called up share capital Share premium Capital contribution reserve Retained earnings Total equity
£ £ £ £ £
Balance at 1 January 2024 2,947,284 34,079,856 125,000 (28,356,751) 8,795,389
Issue of share capital (net of expenses) 149,334 900,368 - - 1,049,702
Share based payment - - - 21,391 21,391
Total comprehensive income - - - (1,543,898) (1,543,898)
Balance at 30 June 2024 3,096,618 34,980,224 125,000 (29,879,258) 8,322,584
Changes in equity
Issue of share capital (net of expenses) - - - - -
Share based payment - - - 25,653 25,653
Total comprehensive income - - - (802,953) (802,953)
Balance at 31 December 2024 3,096,618 34,980,224 125,000 (30,656,558) 7,545,284
Changes in equity
Issue of share capital - - - - -
Share based payment - - - 26,545 26,545
Total comprehensive income - - - (1,560,601) (1,560,601)
Balance at 30 June 2025 3,096,618 34,980,224 125,000 (32,190,614) 6,011,228
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
Half year to Half year to Year to 31
30 June 30 June December
2025 2024 2024
£ £ £
EBITDA (1,145,775) (1,407,894) (2,183,583)
Employee share option costs 26,545 21,391 47,044
Increase / (Decrease) in working capital 335,303 78,039 (377,038)
Cash used in operations (783,927) (1,308,464) (2,513,577)
Interest paid on lease liabilities - - (70)
Tax received - 108,704 108,704
Net cash outflow from operating activities (783,927) (1,199,760) (2,404,943)
Cash flows from investing activities
Payments for intangible fixed assets (787,461) (806,110) (1,695,887)
Payments for property, plant and equipment - (3,198) (20,719)
Transfer from short-term investments 313,562 146,970 1,881,633
Interest received 75,422 138,004 402,825
Net cash (outflow) / inflow from investing activities (398,477) (524,334) 567,852
Cash flows from financing activities
Share issue (net of expenses) - 1,049,702 1,049,702
Payment of lease liabilities - (29,364) (29,295)
Net cash inflow from financing activities - 1,020,338 1,020,407
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents (1,182,404) (703,756) (816,684)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 3,162,581 3,979,265 3,979,265
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 1,980,177 3,275,509 3,162,581
NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INTERIM ACCOUNTS
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
1. Basis of preparation and accounting policies
These interim statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with UK
adopted International Accounting Standards. They do not contain all of the
information required for full financial statements and should be read in
conjunction with the financial statements of the Company as at and for the
year ended 31 December 2024. These interim financial statements do not
constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of the Companies Act.
The interim financial information has not been audited. The interim financial
information was approved by the Board of Directors on 26 September 2025. The
information for the year ended 31 December 2024 is extracted from the
statutory financial statements for that year which have been reported on by
the Company's auditors and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The audit
report was unqualified and did not contain a statement under s498 (2) or
498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.
The accounting policies applied by the Company in these interim financial
statements are the same as those applied by the Company in its financial
statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
2. Divisional breakdown
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025
Blackbird Corporate elevate.io Total
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Half year to Half year to Half year to Half year to
30 June 2025 30 June 2025 30 June 2025 30 June 2025
£ £ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 572,161 - 4,734 576,895
Cost of Sales (48,833) - (34,434) (83,267)
GROSS PROFIT / (LOSS) 523,328 - (29,700) 493,628
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (396,309) (506,653) (709,896) (1,612,858)
Adjusted EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, 127,019 (506,653) (739,596) (1,119,230)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA before share option costs)
Employee share option costs - (26,545) - (26,545)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) 127,019 (533,198) (739,596) (1,145,775)
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
Blackbird Corporate elevate.io Total
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Half year to Half year to Half year to Half year to
30 June 2024 30 June 2024 30 June 2024 30 June 2024
£ £ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 691,643 - - 691,643
Cost of Sales (49,681) - - (49,681)
GROSS PROFIT 641,962 - - 641,962
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (823,550) (518,222) (686,693) (2,028,465)
Adjusted EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, (181,588) (518,222) (686,693) (1,386,503)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA before share option costs)
Employee share option costs
- (21,391) - (21,391)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) (181,588) (539,613) (686,693) (1,407,894)
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