Trading Statement
Next Fifteen Communications Plc
Next Fifteen Communications Group plc
AGM and trading update
At the AGM to be held today at 2.30 p.m., Will Whitehorn, Chairman of Next
Fifteen Communications Group plc (the "Group"), will make the following comments
with regard to trading and the business since the start of the financial year, 1
August 2007.
"With almost six months of trading under our belt I am pleased to report that
the Group has made a strong start to the financial year. This is thanks to
significant client wins made in the latter half of the last financial year, such
as Boots, Cisco, Nokia and MySpace and a strong new-business pipeline in the
current trading period. As a result the Group is confident of meeting its
targets for the year. The Group's agencies that service a mix of consumer and
business-to-business technology customers are experiencing good growth and
improving margins in all the major markets around the world, thanks in part to
the Group's advanced services around social media and other digital offerings.
At the same time the Group's non-technology business in the UK continues to
experience strong growth.
Outlook
"The Group recognises the uncertain economic outlook for a number of its major
markets in 2008 and has taken a series of steps to ensure that if there is a
change in trading conditions, the business is well prepared. However, at this
stage the Group continues to see solid budgets and significant new-business
opportunities. It is also worth noting that the Group has relatively low
exposure to project income, with less than 20% of fees being derived from such
activities. Finally, while the Group's international nature does create some
currency exposures, investors should be aware that the business does have
currency hedges in place to protect the projected profits of the Group.
Customer Expansion and Retention
"Next Fifteen's growth continues to come from its operations around the world
and from its broad spectrum of customers, which includes a mix of large
companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Xerox, Yahoo!, Nokia, Unilever and Sun and
medium-sized and small companies such as VM Ware, Salesforce.com and Facebook.
In the case of Sun, the Group's Bite agency has just signed a five year
agreement to provide PR services to the company. In the first half of this
fiscal year, the Group has increased its business with customers such as Amazon,
Facebook, eBay, VM Ware, Cap Gemini, Salesforce.com and IBM. It has also added
new assignments from Fujitsu, Autonomy, Blinx and Nickelodeon. The Group now has
330 clients around the world, an increase of 7.5% over the last year.
"The Group expects to report its Interim Results on 23 April 2008."
Enquiries:
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Next Fifteen
Tim Dyson, Chief Executive 001 415 350 2801
David Dewhurst, Finance Director 020 8846 0770
Merlin 020 7653 6620
Anja Kharlamova 07887 788 4788
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Notes to Editors
Next Fifteen
-- Next Fifteen Communications Group Plc (www.nextfifteen.com) is the
holding company for a group of worldwide PR consultancies. The majority
of the Group's clients are in the technology industry, and include
global names such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Cisco.
The Group's strategy has also evolved to advise non-technology clients
including companies such as Coca-Cola, Whirlpool, Total, Dove, Nokia,
MySpace and the Barclays Premiership.
-- The Group owns five independent subsidiary PR brands that operate as
autonomous businesses. It also owns two research businesses and has an
investment in a policy communications business
-- The Group's dedicated B2B and consumer services PR brand, Lexis Public
Relations, operates across a number of vertical market sectors.
-- In the 12 months to 31 July 2007, Next Fifteen's net revenue grew by 6%
to £59.3m and pre-tax profit by 49% to £4.5m. EBITDA grew by 33% to
£7.25m in the same period.
-- Next Fifteen is listed on the Alternative Investment Market in London
and has a market capitalisation of £31.89m as at 28 January 2008.