REG - XLMedia PLC - Final Results

XLMediaAnnouncement

13/03/2018 07:05

RNS Number : 4871H
XLMedia PLC
13 March 2018
For immediate release
13 March 2018
XLMedia PLC
("XLMedia" or "the Group" or "the Company")
Final results for the year ended 31 December 2017
Record revenues driven by organic growth and strategic expansion
XLMedia (AIM: XLM), a leading provider of digital performance marketing services, is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 31 December 2017.
Financial highlights
 Revenues increased 33% to $137.6 million (2016: $103.6 million)
 Gross profit increased 37% to $73.1 million (2016: $53.3 million)
 Adjusted EBITDA increased 36% to $47.1 million (2016: $34.6 million)
 Profit before tax increased 27% to $39.3 million (2016: $31.0 million)
 Declared final dividend of $8.0 million or 3.7105cents per share to be paid in Pound Sterling (2.6829 pence per share), a total of 7.7331 cents per share for the year (2016: 7.6069 cents per share for the year)
 Strong balance sheet with $33.8 million working capital and total equity of $116.7 million or 76% of total assets
 Cash and short-term investments at 31 December 2017 were $43.3 million
 Earnings per share increased 25% to $0.15 (2016: $0.12)
Operating highlights
 Significant acquisition momentum during the period continues to drive geographical and sector expansion. Key transactions included:
o Personal finance acquisitions - GreedyRates, a Canadian credit card comparison portal, and Money Under 30, a US personal finance website, now both fully integrated
o Mobile apps acquisition - ClicksMob, a mobile performance-based user acquisition platform
o Entrance into the high growth cyber security sector - Acquisition of Securethoughts, a US cyber security comparison website
o Expansion into Romania - Completed the acquisition of a Romanian portfolio of publishing assets, leveraging the Group's affiliate license in a growing regulated market
Post-period end highlights
 Raised an additional $43.6 million of cash to further accelerate acquisition strategy
 Acquired a number of leading Finnish gambling related informational websites from Good Game Ltd for a total consideration of up to 15 million
 Acquired three personal finance websites based in the US for a total consideration of $5.15 million.
Ory Weihs, Chief Executive Officer of XLMedia, commented:
"We are delighted to have delivered another record performance for the Group, underpinned by our clear strategic vision. Our recent entry into the personal finance sector is already delivering tangible benefits with potential for further upside, while the core activities continue to deliver solid growth.
"Elsewhere, core markets continue to perform well, and alongside the acquisitions and ongoing investment in technology, we are confident these will generate significant returns.
"Further to the fundraising completed in January, we believe we will be able to capitalise on our acquisition pipeline in addition to growing the business organically. The Board remains focused on continuing to deliver further progress and shareholder value."
A webcast of our results presentation will be available on our website later today: http://www.xlmedia.com/media/
For further information, please contact:
XLMedia plc
Ory Weihs
www.xlmedia.com
Tel: 020 8817 5283
Vigo Communications
Jeremy Garcia / Fiona Henson / Kate Rogucheva
www.vigocomms.com
Tel: 020 7830 9703
Cenkos Securities plc (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Camilla Hume / Mark Connelly
www.cenkos.com
Tel: 020 7397 8900
Berenberg (Joint Broker)
Chris Bowman / Mark Whitmore
www.berenberg.com
Tel: 020 3207 7800
Business review
During the course of 2017, XLMedia delivered further progress against the Group's strategic plan of generating organic growth alongside acquisition-led expansion into new markets and verticals. We firmly believe that our continued investment in core infrastructure and technology ensures XLMedia maintains its competitive edge, and contributed to delivering another year of record financial performance for the Group. Along with maintaining strong organic growth, XLMedia also completed a number of strategic acquisitions in 2017, diversifying both sector expertise and broadening our geographical reach.
Acquisitions
During 2017, the Group made its first entry into the personal finance sector through the acquisition of GreedyRates, a Canadian credit card comparison portal, and Money Under 30, a US personal finance website. These acquisitions have now been fully integrated into the Group's operations and we are already seeing the benefits of integration onto the Group's proprietary technology. In addition, post period end, the Group has further enhanced its footprint in this area, having agreed to acquire three US focused personal finance websites, which will further increase the Group's foothold in the North American personal finance domain. These additional websites complement those already in our portfolio as we continue to grow our expertise and presence in the space.
Additional publishing acquisitions in 2017 added further diversification with the US cyber security comparison website Securethoughts, and a Romanian network following the Group securing a Romanian affiliate license.
Mobile marketing capabilities - The acquisition of ClicksMob in February 2017 significantly extended XLMedia's addressable market. By combining ClicksMob and Dau-Up, the Group has been able to leverage its expertise within games and social marketing across additional verticals and geographies.
All acquired businesses and assets have been fully integrated into the Group's operations.
Post period end, the Company also announced the acquisition of a number of leading Finnish gambling related informational websites for up to 15 million.
Fundraising and investment
In January 2018, we completed a $43.6 million (31.7 million) fundraising to further support the continued acquisition strategy. We believe there is a significant opportunity to further strengthen our market share through both organic and acquisitive growth. To that end, we continue to identify and evaluate acquisition targets and foresee this as a core part of our future strategy. We strive for any acquisitions we undertake to be earnings accretive and to simultaneously benefit from greater economies of scale as part of the wider group.
In total over the course of 2017, we invested $31.3 million in extending our reach - both geographically and into additional verticals - adding websites and channels as well as developing additional capabilities to our technology infrastructure.
Technology
Our proprietary technology platforms remain a critical component in driving growth across the business. We continue to invest in our technology to ensure we maintain our market leading position.
 Palcon - our proprietary content management system - has been a key success factor for our organic growth. We recently completed the migration of GreedyRates onto Palcon which has led to a 6% increase in returning visitors, while time spent on the site increased by over 25% overall, and by over 70% on mobile devices. The Palcon infrastructure improved the loading time of the site by 43% as well as added features to further improve experience for users. We continue to migrate all acquired assets onto our platform, to improve performance and efficiently manage the acquired websites within our teams.
 Rampix is our proprietary campaign management platform and was awarded 'Instagram Marketing Partner' for Ad Technology in 2017.
 Our technology and infrastructure captures data from thousands of sources daily including online traffic sources, targeting methods and channels. Through the constant analysis of this data against successful outcomes, we are able to optimise future campaigns and assets to maximise return on our investment.
Diversification of revenues
A combination of strong organic and acquisitive growth has seen the Group further diversify its revenues, both geographically and by sector.
In 2017, 28% of revenues were derived from Scandinavia (2016: 32%), North America generated 22% (2016: 21%) and other European countries generated 30% of revenues (2016: 27%). Following the acquisition of ClicksMob we have now seen the first significant revenues from APAC, which contributed approximately 8% of Group's revenues in 2017.
Through our strategy to diversify into sectors, gambling accounted for 64% of 2017 revenues (2016: 70%) and 2018 will benefit from full year contribution from recent acquisitions.
Enhanced regulation continued into 2017. We see the trend of increased regulation emerging across all verticals, driven by a number of factors including advertising regulations and privacy protection. In the gambling space, for example, increased regulation presents the Group with both challenges and opportunities and we remain ever vigilant of both. The Group has already implemented strict internal procedures and compliance programmes alongside staff training and we believe XLMedia is well positioned to be one of the first to capitalise on access to newly regulated markets and a stricter backdrop across our key verticals.
The results delivered in 2017 reflect the continued success of our stated strategy and we expect growth to continue in 2018. 
Business Segments review
($'000)
Publishing
Media
Partner Network
Total
2017
Revenues
62,894
66,428
8,310
137,632
% of revenues
45.7%
48.3%
6.0%
100%
Direct profit
50,309
19,982
1,423
71,714
Profit margin
80.0%
30%
17.1%
52.1%
2016
Revenues
46,057
47,645
9,903
103,605
% of revenues
44.5%
45.9%
9.6%
100%
Direct profit
38,384
13,779
1,160
53,323
Profit margin
83.3%
28.9%
11.7%
51.5%
2017 showed significant progress for both the publishing and media divisions, driven by organic growth complemented with recent acquisitions.
Publishing
Publishing revenues grew 37% to $62.9 million (2016: $46.1 million). During 2017 we acquired new websites and domains for $21.1 million. Although the Group has acquired new publishing assets in the period, the majority of the growth reported in 2017 has been organic.
Direct profit margins remained high at $50.3 million or 80% of publishing revenues (2016: $38.4 million, 83%). We expect publishing direct profit to marginally reduce as a percentage, as we continue to invest and develop our existing assets and optimize the recently acquired assets for improved performance going forward.
Media
Media revenues grew 39.4% to $66.4 million (2016: $47.6 million). The growth was primarily driven by the acquisition of ClicksMob in February 2017, but did also include organic growth. Towards the end of 2017 we ceased activities in the division with lower than desired margin which will impact revenue growth of the media segment this year but is expected to have minimal effect on profit targets.
During 2017, we merged ClicksMob and Dau-Up to create an integrated unified mobile unit, focusing on user acquisition for mobile apps and games. The ClicksMob acquisition added diversity across a number of verticals, including e-commerce, travel, entertainment and finance. The acquisition further strengthened Dau-Up's increasing dominance in verticals outside of gaming and added presence in APAC.
Direct profit for the media segment increased 45% to $20 million or 30% of revenues (2016: $13.8 million, 29%).
Partner Network
As anticipated, our Partner Network revenue decreased 16% to $8.3 million (2016: $9.9 million). In 2016 we undertook a full review of our partners in this network, with a view to implementing more stringent sign up and operations criteria and, where necessary, ceasing activity with certain partners to improve overall quality. Although this review has led to lower revenues, there was no impact on profit.
Our Partner Network serves as a complementary channel, giving us the opportunity to provide marketing services which are not currently offered through our publishing and media networks.
Current Trading and Outlook
The business has established strong foundations for growth, adding both scale and vertical diversity in 2017. Our focused acquisition strategy is closely aligned with the Company's stated strategy and underpins our commitment to maintaining shareholder value.
The Board therefore looks forward to another year of continued execution of our strategy. As such the Board is declaring a dividend of $8.0 million or 3.7105 cents per share payable in Pound Sterling (2.6829 pence per share) on 20 April 2018 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 23 March 2018. The ex-dividend date is 22 March 2018.
Financial review
'000
2017
2016
Change
Revenues
137,632
103,605
+33%
Gross Profit
73,145
53,323
+37%
Operating expenses
32,376
23,226
+39%
Operating income
40,769
30,097
+35%
Adjusted EBITDA
47,120
34,621
+36%
Profit Before Tax
39,345
31,000
+27%
In 2017 XLMedia delivered record revenues of $137.6 million, reflecting an increase of 33% compared to the previous year.
Gross profit reached $73.1 million or 53% of revenues, representing 37% growth compared to previous year (2016: $53.3 million, 51% of revenues).
Operating expenses for 2017 were $32.4 million, an increase of 39% compared to the previous year (2016: $23.2 million). The increase in costs is primarily attributable to staff and relevant overhead, mainly in research and development and sales and marketing as well as an increased amortisation and impairment expense in general and administration.
Operating expenses included $4.5 million of research and development expenses, reflecting an increase of 100% compared to the same period last year (2016: $2.2 million). These expenses are in addition to investments in technology and internal systems developed during the period of $3.8 million (2016: $3.8 million). The Group expects to continue investment in technology as we see technology a key driver to growth and profit for the coming years. Operating expenses also reflected a 51% increase in sales and marketing expenses to $6.3 million (2016: $4.1 million) mainly for payroll costs. As the Group enters more verticals and geographies, we expect to increase sales and marketing efforts to drive sales in new business for the Group.
Adjusted EBITDA1 reached $47.1 million or 34% of revenues, reflecting an increase of 36% to the previous year (2016: $34.6 million, 33%).
Net finance expenses for 2017 were $1.4 million compared to net finance income of $0.9 million in 2016. The Group has dynamic hedging activity in place to mitigate material exposure to foreign currencies. In 2016 the finance income recorded was driven by fair value gains for forward contracts, although not yet matured. In 2017 the forward contracts recorded a net finance expense.
As a result of the high revenues and gross profit, profit before tax increased by 27% to $39.3 million (2016: $31.0 million). Net income for the period was $31.9 million, reflecting an increase of 25% (2016: $25.6 million). Net income included non-controlling interests of $1.5 million. Following the acquisition of the minority rights in Marmar Media, reported in August 2017, the minority rights going forward will decrease.
As at 31 December 2017 the Company had $43.3 million in cash and short term investments compared to $35.2 million as at 31 December 2016. The change in cash reflects an increase of $41.1 million provided by operating activity, offset by spending $22.9 million on investments mainly for technology and acquisitions and $13.4 million for financing activities. Financing activities included $15.5 million of dividend payments to shareholders (2016: $12.4 million), payment of $1.8 million dividends to non-controlling interests (2016: $1.8 million), offset by a receipt of $5.0 million long term bank loan. 
Current assets as at 31 December 2017 were $67.1 million (31 December 2016: $56.7 million), and non-current assets were $87.4 million (31 December 2016: $70.4 million). The increase in non-current assets is attributed mainly to investments in domains and websites as well as the ClicksMob acquisition.
Total equity as at 31 December 2017 reached $116.7 million, or 76% of total assets (2016: 81%). Earlier this year, the Group announced the successful placing of 16 million new ordinary shares to raise $43.6 million. Together with the cash on the balance sheet, the Group is well positioned to continue executing its strategic plan.
1Earnings Before interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization and impairment and adjusted to exclude share based

payments

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As of 31 December
2017
2016
USD in thousands
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents
38,416
32,095
Short-term investments
4,861
3,091
Trade receivables
18,950
17,075
Other receivables
4,665
3,463
Financial derivatives
200
1,002
67,092
56,726
Non-current assets:
Long-term investments
681
609
Property and equipment
1,230
1,229
Goodwill
30,052
26,302
Deposit for acquisition of websites
-
9,300
Domains and websites
45,762
26,739
Other intangible assets
8,585
5,948
Deferred taxes
862
85
Other assets
244
171
87,416
70,383
154,508
127,109
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As of 31 December
2017
2016
USD in thousands
 Liabilities and equity
 Current liabilities:
Trade payables
9,813
9,274
Other liabilities and accounts payable
10,972
9,721
Income tax payable
8,573
4,475
Financial derivatives
1,425
-
Current maturity of long term bank loan
2,500
-
33,283
23,470
 Non-current liabilities:
Long term bank loan
2,500
-
Income tax payable
1,825
-
Deferred taxes
42
126
Other liabilities
201
228
4,568
354
Equity
Share capital
*)
*)
Share premium
68,417
66,812
Capital reserve from share-based transactions
1,227
1,208
Capital reserve from transaction with non-controlling interests
(2,445)
(506)
Retained earnings
49,167
34,349
Equity attributable to equity holders of the Company
116,366
101,863
Non-controlling interests
291
1,422
 Total equity
116,657
103,285
154,508
127,109
*) Lower than USD 1 thousand.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF PROFIT OR LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Year ended 31
December
2017
2016
USD in thousands
(except per share data)
Revenues
137,632
103,605
Cost of revenues
64,487
50,282
Gross profit
73,145
53,323
Research and development expenses
4,474
2,228
Selling and marketing expenses
6,263
4,142
General and administrative expenses
21,639
16,856
32,376
23,226
Operating income
40,769
30,097
Finance expenses
(2,113)
(403)
Finance income
689
1,306
Finance income (expenses), net
(1,424)
903
Profit before taxes on income
39,345
31,000
Taxes on income
7,474
5,416
Net income and other comprehensive income
31,871
25,584
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the Company
30,323
23,937
Non-controlling interests
1,548
1,647
31,871
25,584
Earnings per share attributable to equity holders of the Company:
Basic and diluted earnings per share (in USD)
0.15
0.12
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
Year ended
31 December 
2017
2016
USD in thousands
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income
31,871
25,584
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Adjustments to the profit or loss items:
Depreciation amortisation and impairment
5,932
3,878
Finance expense (income), net
2,813
(906)
Cost of share-based payment
419
646
Taxes on income
7,474
5,416
Exchange differences on balances of cash and cash equivalents
(1,545)
589
15,093
9,623
Changes in asset and liability items:
Increase in trade receivables
(1,875)
(987)
Increase in other receivables
(982)
(930)
Increase (decrease) in trade payables
539
(1,872)
Increase in other accounts payable
286
1,032
Increase (decrease) in other long-term liabilities
(27)
73
(2,059)
(2,684)
Cash received (paid) during the year for:
Interest received
17
139
Taxes paid
(4,154)
(5,710)
Taxes received
305
-
(3,832)
(5,571)
Net cash provided by operating activities
41,073
26,952
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
Year ended 31 December 
2017
2016
USD in thousands
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of property and equipment
(388)
(479)
Payment for acquired business
(5,100)
-
Payment of contingent consideration in respect of acquired company
-
(5,500)
Acquisition of domains, websites, technology and other intangible assets
(16,160)
(6,742)
Deposit on account of acquisition of domains and websites
-
(9,300)
Collection of receivable from sale of assets
300
300
Short- term and long-term investments, net
(1,595)
4,333
Net cash used in investing activities
(22,943)
(17,388)
Cash flows from financing activities:
Dividend paid to equity holders of the Company
(15,505)
(12,362)
Acquisition of non-controlling interests
(2,250)
-
Dividend paid to non-controlling interests
(1,804)
(1,805)
Exercise of options
1,205
1,546
Receipt of long-term loan from banks
5,000
-
Net cash used in financing activities
(13,354)
(12,621)
Exchange differences on balances of cash and cash equivalents
1,545
(589)
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
6,321
(3,646)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
32,095
35,741
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
38,416
32,095
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
NOTES TO THE INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 1: GENERAL
The Group is an online performance marketing company. The Group attracts paying users from multiple online and mobile channels and directs them to online businesses who, in turn, convert such traffic into paying customers.
Online traffic is attracted by the Group's publications and advertisements and are then directed, by the Group to its customers in return for mainly a share of the revenue generated by such user, a fee generated per user acquired, fixed fees or a hybrid of any of these models.
For further information regarding online marketing and the Group's business segments see Note 2.
The Company is incorporated in Jersey, and commenced its operations in 2012.
On 21 March 2014, the Company completed an Initial Public Offering ("IPO") on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
In January 2018, the Company issued 16,000,000 Ordinary shares at a price of 198 pence per Ordinary share. The total gross funds raised were approximately GBP 31.7 million (USD 43.6 million) and the related cost amounted to approximately GBP 1.1 million (USD 1.5 million)
NOTE 2: OPERATING SEGMENTS
(a) General:
The operating segments are identified on the basis of information that is reviewed by the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") to make decisions about resources to be allocated and assess its performance. Accordingly, for management purposes, the Group is organised into operating segments based on the products and services of the business units and has operating segments as follows:
Publishing
-
The Group owns over 2,300 informational websites in 18 languages. These websites refer potential customers to online businesses. The sites' content, written by professional writers, is designed to attract online traffic which the Group then directs to its customers online businesses.
Media
-
The Group's Media division acquires online advertising targeted at potential online traffic with the objective of directing it to the Group's users. The Group buys advertising space on search engines, websites, mobile and social networks and places adverts referring potential users to the Group's customers' websites or to its own websites.
Partners Network
-
The Group manages marketing partners, whose role is to direct online traffic to the Group's customers for which the Group receives revenues. The Group is responsible for paying its partners. The Group's partner programme enables affiliates to have a single point of contact, collection and negotiation for the traffic generated by them, rather than engaging with multilateral negotiation, operations and collection from online operators.
Segment performance (segment profit) is evaluated based on revenues less direct operating costs.
Items that were not allocated are managed on a group basis.
Publishing
Media
Partners Network
Total
USD in thousands
Year ended 31 December 2017:
Revenues
62,894
66,428
8,310
137,632
Segment profit
50,309
19,982
1,423
71,714
Unallocated corporate expenses
(30,945)
Finance income, net
(1,424)
Profit before taxes on income
39,345
Year ended 31 December 2016:
Revenues
46,057
47,645
9,903
103,605
Segment profit
38,384
13,779
1,160
53,323
Unallocated corporate expenses
(23,226)
Finance income, net
903
Profit before taxes on income
31,000
NOTE 2: OPERATING SEGMENTS (Cont.)
(c)  Geographic information:
Revenues classified by geographical areas based on internet user location:
Year ended 31 December
2017
2016
USD in thousands
Scandinavia
38,250
33,054
Other European countries
41,621
28,295
North America
29,665
21,724
Oceania
3,493
4,951
Asia
10,940
178
Other countries
3,766
2,037
Total revenues from identified locations
127,735
90,239
Revenues from unidentified locations
9,897
13,366
Total revenues
137,632
103,605
NOTE 3: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
(a) In January 2018, the Company announced that it has agreed to acquire a network of leading Finnish gambling informational websites for a total cash consideration of up to EUR 15 million.
(b) In January 2018, the Company granted 3,000,000 options to employees (including to the Company's CEO and other key management personal), exercisable to 3,000,000 ordinary share in an exercise price of GBP 2.02 per share.
(c) In January 2018, the Company raised from the issuance of Ordinary shares a net amount of approximately GBP 30.6 million, see Note 1.

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