Final Results
15 April 2009
ToLuna Plc
(the "Group" or the "Company")
Results for the year ended 31 December 2008
Expanding our global reach and services for the next phase of growth
Highlights
* Another year of strong growth for ToLuna
* Revenue up 74 per cent. to £21.7 million (2007: £12.5 million); underlying
growth 35 per cent. before acquisitions
* Net cash from operating activities up 47 per cent. to £5.0 million (2007: £
3.4 million)
* Profit before tax up 48 per cent. to £4.7 million (2007: £3.2 million)
* Total dividend increased 47 per cent. to 1.65 pence (2007: 1.12 pence)
* Earnings per share up 46 per cent. to 9.63 pence (2007: 6.59 pence)
* Common Knowledge acquisition strengthens US platform and ToLuna's global
offering
* Opening of Sydney office to support Asiapac growth strategy
* Panel membership rises to 2.65 million, across 30 countries
* Rapid growth in ToLuna "social voting" community activity - rising to 8
million votes a month
* In Q1 2009 strong growth in revenue, on a proforma basis, compared to last
year, reflecting the resilience of ToLuna's business model
Further enquires:
ToLuna plc
Frederic-Charles Petit, Chief Executive Tel: 00336 33 08 03 91
Richard Bernstein, Non-Executive Director Tel: 020 7491 0770
John East & Partners Limited
David Worlidge/Simon Clements Tel: 020 7628 2200
Notes to Editors
ToLuna is a leading independent online panel and survey technology provider to
the global market research industry. The company provides sample and custom
panel building expertise to the world's leading organisations from offices
across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
ToLuna has built and manages a panel community of over 2.6 million active
members across 30 countries. This has been extensively profiled into 16
specialist panels, reaching niche segments to provide premium quality survey
research data.
In addition, PanelPortal, a highly robust and scalable hosted technology
platform enables research professionals to easily build, manage and run their
own online panels and surveys.
ToLuna was recently recognised by the French Chamber of Commerce in Great
Britain as Exporter of the Year and was named France's fastest growing company
in the four years to 2007 by the magazine l'Entreprise.
Chairman's Statement
I am pleased to report on a year of substantial further progress for ToLuna. In
the face of a very difficult global financial situation, your company achieved
notable advances geographically, technologically and financially. This is
impressive testimony to the resilience of our business model in the most
challenging economic conditions.
Our strategy remains clear and straightforward. We aim to provide our clients
with a comprehensive range of panel and technology services, ranging from the
most basic questionnaire through to helping them build continuous online
dialogue with their customers, all at a price which represents excellent value
for money.
This gives us confidence that we are well placed to ride out the downturn that
has affected all the major global economies. Even if spending on global market
research should be affected, we believe the online sector of the market will
continue to grow, in keeping with the established pattern of recent years.
Within the online sector, ToLuna's technology strengths and track record should
enable us to participate fully in this growth. Our end-to-end solution, which
we have advocated to the market for a long time, is building further momentum
at a time when budgets are under scrutiny.
During the year, we extended our global reach. Of particular importance was the
strategic deal concluded in June 2008 for the acquisition of Common Knowledge
Inc of Dallas, Texas, a pioneer of digital data collection. On 2 April 2009,
Common Knowledge was renamed ToLuna, reflecting its successful integration
within our Group in less than a year since the acquisition.
ToLuna also expanded in the Asia Pacific region with the opening of its office
in Sydney, Australia. Asia Pacific will be an important region for the Group in
future years.
While the immediate focus of the Group will be on consolidating and expanding
our US operations following the acquisition of Common Knowledge, ToLuna will
continue to extend its global offering of data collection and consumer dialogue
solutions.
Our panel network has expanded further and now extends to 2.65 million people
spread over 30 countries. Our panel membership has doubled in two years and
remains a critically important foundation of the quality and range of ToLuna's
offering.
At the same time as expanding our network, we are deepening our interaction
with our panel community. Our online social voting community, toluna.com, first
launched in October 2007, has been successfully extended to France, Germany,
Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia. We are preparing the launch of this
successful model in other strategic markets.
Social voting's popularity with our panel community is evident from the
numbers. More than eight million votes are cast every month on our network
compared to 2.5 million when toluna.com was operating solely in the UK.
In the UK alone, toluna.com has more than 350,000 unique visitors per month. A
significant percentage of our audience registers directly and unprompted,
giving us access to a wide range of respondents.
Social voting is a valuable way of strengthening our panels, improving response
rates and the quality of data. It is also giving us the valuable ability to
collect data in real time 24/7.
The launch of ToLuna QuickSurveys in December 2008 is the first phase of our
"survey solution as a service" offering.
Results
ToLuna achieved a further significant advance in revenue and profits in 2008.
Currency gains were a factor in the advance, reflecting the fact that with
offices in 7 countries and clients in 19 countries, the Company is now a global
operator.
Revenue for the year grew 74 per cent. to £21.7 million. Excluding the effects
of acquisitions, underlying revenue growth was 35 per cent.
Operating profits, before share based payments, rose 52 per cent. to £5.0
million. Operating profits include approximately £0.7 million of unrealised
currency gains and take into account a one-off charge of £0.3 million linked to
the Common Knowledge acquisition.
Profit before tax rose 48 per cent. to £4.7 million (2007: £3.2 million).
Profits after tax rose 47 per cent. to £3.5 million.
Earnings per share increased 46 per cent. to 9.63 pence (2007: 6.59 pence).
The Group maintained its strong cash flow, so that even after the immediate
costs of the Common Knowledge acquisition, the Group had a net cash position of
£1.0 million at the year end. The cash flow from operations is up by 47 per
cent. to £5.0 million (2007: £3.4 million).
Dividend
Your board is recommending a final dividend of 1.15 pence per share (2007: 0.75
pence) payable on 20 June 2009 to shareholders on the register at 24 April
2009. This brings the total dividend for the year to 1.65 pence (2007: 1.12
pence), an increase of 47 per cent. over last year.
Review of operations
A key strategic focus is on the US market. US market research spend is
estimated at $8.7 billion per year. Online market research spend is estimated
to be $2.1 billion per year, equivalent to approximately one quarter of the US
market research spend.
In Europe, we continue to strengthen our core operations in France, the UK,
Germany and the Netherlands as well as seeking growth opportunities in other
European territories.
In Asia Pacific, the establishment of our office in Sydney, Australia
establishes an important platform for expansion in this region, which in recent
years has been a powerhouse of global economic growth.
Acquisition
On 18 June 2008, ToLuna announced the purchase of the entire issued share
capital of Common Knowledge Inc. for an initial $8.46 million in cash, with an
additional deferred consideration of $2.2 million in cash, of which $1.275
million is payable on 18 June 2009 and $0.925 million payable on 18 June 2010.
Within the US market, Common Knowledge Inc., established in 1988, is a well
established provider of digital data collection services in the market research
industry, with a customer list including many of the top 100 US market research
firms.
This is a critically important step forward in the US market for ToLuna. The
combined US operation now has 72 staff in 7 locations.
We are proud to confirm that ToLuna and Common Knowledge are now integrated in
the US under the brand name ToLuna, reflecting our global branding.
Custom panel software as a service offering
ToLuna has pioneered the development of panels customised for specific clients
through its AutomateSurvey and PanelPortal software as a service solution. Our
first client custom panel was created in 2002 when online research was rarely
perceived as a useful means of collecting data.
Since then our portfolio of clients using our technology has grown to 80
leading customers. In 2008, we won significant accounts such as Debenhams, ITV
and Easyjet.
We expect this segment of the market to go from strength to strength as brand
owners seek to initiate and nurture continuous dialogue with their customers.
Our ability to service our clients goes far beyond the provision of our
AutomateSurvey and PanelPortal solutions. In contrast to our competitors in
this market sector, we provide clients with not only the software, but the
capacity to recruit and manage their panel, access to our global sampling
solutions worldwide and the expertise of our 260 staff members in panels and
panellist relationship management.
ToLuna QuickSurvey offering
In December 2008, we launched our new solution, ToLuna QuickSurveys, allowing
organisations to question our members directly and collect nationally
representative data at the click of a button. Already we have attracted more
than 20 clients, including British Airways.
ToLuna QuickSurveys is the first stage in our strategy of democratising the use
of research. Other products and solutions will follow allowing us to generate
income by converting the exceptional traffic we enjoy on our communities into
paid for research.
Panel building
We continue to grow our community of panellists, which now numbers more than
2.65 million people and spans 30 countries (2007: 1.8 million in 27 countries).
Our panel membership has doubled in two years and grown more than sixfold since
ToLuna was floated on AIM in 2005.
We thank our panellists, who remain at the core of our business. The ability to
offer access to 2.65 million customers or potential customers is a critical
strength of the ToLuna model.
We are delighted that our interaction with and understanding of our panellists
continues to deepen. The introduction of "social voting" in October 2007 has
proved widely popular with our panel community who vote, set their own
questions and conduct their own polls in increasing numbers.
Clients
Our clients include some of the world's leading companies, media agencies and
market research groups. Their number almost doubled during 2008, rising from
319 to 613. We particularly seek to build a long term relationship with clients
and are pleased that repeat business accounted for 77 per cent. of our revenue
(2007: 70 per cent.).
Management and staff
Our business relies heavily on the commitment and expertise of our staff across
the world. We are pleased to report that 2008 was another year of first class
service to our clients as evidenced by the high level of satisfaction reported
in our customer surveys.
The board wishes to thank all our staff for their continuing efforts in making
ToLuna a great and special company.
ToLuna was recently recognised by the French Chamber of Commerce in Great
Britain as Exporter of the Year and was named France's fastest growing company
in the four years to 2007 by the magazine l'Entreprise.
Prospects
We are keenly aware that the economic horizon is far from clear for the
remainder of 2009 and beyond. It is encouraging that the serious problems of
the financial system and the world economy are now widely recognised, but it is
too early to be confident that they will be swiftly resolved.
It is therefore encouraging that, in the first quarter of 2009, we have had a
strong growth in revenue compared to last year on a like-for-like basis.
Reflecting the increasingly global nature of our revenue base, we have
continued to benefit from currency gains in addition to healthy underlying
growth in our business.
It is also encouraging that, for several years now, the sector in which we
operate, online market research services, has been growing much faster than the
market research industry as a whole. The advantages of the online sector in
speed, cost and interactivity are sound reasons why this outperformance should
continue in more adverse economic conditions. As companies everywhere strive to
conserve costs and improve the effectiveness of their marketing, the
competitive advantage of online market research becomes ever more apparent.
Within the online sector, ToLuna has worked long and hard to provide a range of
services to clients of all sizes, from the simplest questionnaire to intensive
long term interaction with our panel community and specialist sub-sectors and
interest groups. Our technology enables our clients, should they wish, to
establish and monitor their own panel communities. This technology puts ToLuna
at the leading edge of online panel management and we intend to stay there.
As a result, while acknowledging the serious issues the global economy faces,
we look forward to 2009 and beyond with confidence.
George Kynoch
Chairman
14 April 2009
Consolidated Income Statement
Continuing operations
Note Year ended Year ended
31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Revenue 2 21,728 12,462
Staff costs (9,578) (4,817)
Other operating expenses (7,418) (4,611)
Profit from operations 3 4,732 3,034
Finance income 128 152
Finance expense (130) (3)
Profit before tax 4,730 3,186
Tax 4 (1,236) (816)
Profit for the financial year 3,494 2,370
Earnings per share
Basic 6 9.63p 6.59p
Diluted 6 8.97p 6.14p
Consolidated Balance Sheet
Note 31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Goodwill 7 6,266 1,953
Other intangible assets 7,303 2,695
Property, plant and equipment 883 436
14,452 5,084
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 8,462 4,161
Cash and cash equivalents 2,478 4,219
Tax assets 755 -
11,695 8,380
Total assets 26,147 13,464
Equity and liabilities
Equity
Share capital 365 360
Share premium account 5,993 5,437
Retained earnings 7,374 4,088
Translation reserve 2,484 132
Total equity 16,216 10,017
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 6,656 3,047
Bank overdraft 1,470 -
Tax liabilities 469 91
Total current liabilities 8,595 3,138
Non-current liabilities: trade and other 474 -
payables
Deferred tax 862 309
Total equity and liabilities 26,147 13,464
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
Year ended Year ended
31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Operating activities
Profit before tax 4,730 3,186
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortisation 2,172 1,050
Share option grant costs 245 228
Other share based payments (charity) - 55
Loss on disposal of property, plant and - 5
equipment
Exchange differences (319) 92
6,828 4,616
Tax paid (1,061) (930)
Increase in receivables (2,920) (1,142)
Increase in payables 2,116 1,021
Cash generated from operations 4,963 3,565
Net finance expense/(income) 2 (152)
Net cash from operating activities 4,965 3,413
Investing activities
Interest received 128 155
Interest paid (130) (3)
Purchase of subsidiary undertakings (net of (4,313) (29)
cash acquired)
Purchase of intangible assets (3,260) (2,448)
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (741) (376)
Net cash from investing activities (8,316) (2,701)
Cash (outflow)/inflow before financing (3,351) 712
Financing
Dividends paid (453) (313)
Issue of shares 561 18
Proceeds from finance leases entered into 235 170
Capital repayments of finance leases (192) (55)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing 151 (180)
Foreign exchange differences (11) 82
(Decrease)/Increase in cash and cash (3,211) 614
equivalents in the year
Net cash and cash equivalents at start of the 4,219 3,605
year
Net cash and cash equivalents at end of the 1,008 4,219
year
Net cash and cash equivalents 2,478 4,219
Bank overdraft (1,470) -
Cash and cash equivalents 1,008 4,219
Statements of Changes in Equity
Share Share Translation Retained Total
capital premium reserve earnings
account £'000
£'000 £'000 £'000
£'000
At 1 January 2007 359 5,365 (42) 1,803 7,485
Foreign exchange - - 174 - 174
differences
Profit for the year - - - 2,370 2,370
Total recognised - - 174 2,370 2,544
income and expense
Dividends paid - - - (313) (313)
Share option grants - - - 228 228
Shares issued in the 1 72 - - 73
year
At 31 December 2007 360 5,437 132 4,088 10,017
Foreign exchange - - 2,352 - 2,352
differences
Profit for the year - - - 3,494 3,494
Total recognised - - 2,352 3,494 5,846
income and expense
Dividends paid - - - (453) (453)
Share option grants - - - 245 245
Shares issued 5 556 - - 561
At 31 December 2008 365 5,993 2,484 7,374 16,216
Notes to the Financial Statements
1 Publication of non-statutory accounts
The financial information set out in this announcement does not constitute
statutory accounts as defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985.
The financial information for the year ended 31 December 2007 has been
extracted from the group's financial statements to that date which received an
unmodified auditor's report and have been delivered to the Registrar of
Companies. The financial information for the year ended 31 December 2008 has
been extracted from the Group's financial statements to that date which have
received an unmodified auditor's report but have not yet been delivered to the
Registrar of Companies.
2 Segmental information
All revenue relates to the supply of online data collection services to the
market research industry. The directors regard this as a single class of
business.
Segmental information is therefore disclosed by reference to geographical
locations as follows:
Year to 31 December 2008 Europe Asia/Pacific America Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Revenue from origination 17,501 - 4,227 21,278
Revenue from customer location 13,850 384 7,494 21,278
Assets 14,737 347 11,063 26,147
Liabilities 6,141 277 2,651 9,069
Property, plant and equipment 589 99 195 883
Capital expenditure 3,575 23 403 4,001
Amortisation and depreciation 2,010 18 144 2,172
Year to December 2007 Europe Asia/Pacific America Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Revenue from origination 12,462 - - 12,462
Revenue by customer location 9,632 253 2,577 12,462
Assets 13,402 61 1 13,464
Liabilities 2,727 48 363 3,138
Property, plant and equipment 396 26 14 436
Capital expenditure 2,782 32 10 2,824
Amortisation and depreciation 1,039 6 5 1,050
Segment profit or losses cannot usefully be disclosed as the group incurs a
significant level of costs which cannot reliably be allocated across the
segments.
3 Profit from operations
Profit from operations is stated after charging:
Year ended Year ended
31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Exchange gains (946) (12)
Amortisation of intangible assets 1,560 900
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 612 150
Auditor's remuneration for audit services 60 38
Auditor's remuneration for non-audit services 49 28
Operating lease rentals 610 195
Share option grant costs 245 228
Loss on disposal of property, plant and - 5
equipment
4 Tax
Year ended Year ended
31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Current tax
UK tax 558 435
Foreign tax 125 51
683 486
Deferred tax - origination and reversal of 553 330
temporary differences
Tax expense 1,236 816
Deferred tax relates to the utilisation of the deferred tax asset recognised on
the acquisition of the ToLuna SAS in respect of accumulated tax losses and
other timing differences arising in the period.
Tax reconciliation Year ended Year ended
31 December 31 December
2008 2007
£'000 £'000
Profit before tax 4,730 3,186
Tax at 28.5 per cent. on profit before tax 1,348 956
(2007: 30 per cent.)
Effects of:
Non-deductible items/(non taxable income) (11) 146
Foreign tax rates 172 (9)
Accumulated losses in foreign subsidiaries (148) -
Other temporary differences 167 36
Research and development tax credit (292) (313)
Tax expense 1,236 816
5 Dividends
The Company paid a dividend of 0.75 pence per share on 20 June 2008 amounting
to £271,000 and 0.5 pence per share on 22 October 2008 amounting to £182,000.
6 Earnings per share
Earnings per share has been calculated on a profit after tax of £3,494,000
(2007: £2,370,000) and the weighted average number of shares in issue for the
period of 36,296,010 (2007: 35,947,613).
The diluted earnings per share are calculated on the assumption that all
options granted were exercised. This would give rise to a total weighted
average number of ordinary shares in issue for the period of 38,957,309 (2007:
38,629,905).
Year ended 31 December Year ended 31 December
2008 2007
Basic Diluted Basic Diluted
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Profit for the financial 3,494 3,494 2,370 2,370
year
Earnings per share 9.63p 8.97p 6.59p 6.14p
7 Goodwill
Cost and net book amount 2008 2007
Goodwill Goodwill
£'000 £'000
At 1 January 1,953 1,953
Business combination (note 8) 3,195 -
Other additions 3 -
Foreign exchange difference 1,115 -
At 31 December 6,266 1,953
The goodwill carried in the balance sheet at 1 January 2008 of £1,953,000 arose
on the acquisition of Toluna GmbH (formally Speedfacts Gesellschaft für Online
Research GmbH).
The Group tests goodwill annually for impairment or more frequently if there
are indications that it might be impaired.
The recoverable amounts are determined from value in use calculations covering
a period of 5 years. The key assumptions for the value in use calculations are
those regarding the discount rates, growth rates and expected changes to
selling prices and direct costs during the period. Management estimates
discount rates using pre-tax rates that reflect current market assessments of
the time value of money and the risks specific to the business. This has been
estimated at 5 per cent. per annum reflecting the prevailing cost of capital in
Europe. The growth rates are based on industry growth forecasts and estimated
at 11 per cent. per annum. Changes in selling prices and direct costs are based
on past practices and expectations of future changes in the market.
The directors do not consider that any impairment arose during the year.
8 Acquisition of subsidiary undertakings
On 18 June 2008 the Group purchased the entire issued share capital of Common
Knowledge Inc. The total consideration was US$10,664,000 which, translated at
the prevailing rate, is £5,464,000. Furthermore, acquisition costs of £351,000
were also incurred. Of this amount $8,464,000 which, translated at the
prevailing rate, is £4,336,000, was paid on the date of acquisition with
$1,275,000 which, translated at the prevailing rate, is £654,000, payable one
year from acquisition and the remaining $925,000 which, translated at the
prevailing rate, is £474,000, payable two years from acquisition. The
acquisition was partly financed by drawing down £1,229,000 against a £3,000,000
revolving facility obtained during the period. The fair values of the assets
and liabilities acquired are summarised below. The values have been assessed on
a provisional basis at this stage and may be subject to subsequent revision
should pertinent additional information come to light within 12 months of the
acquisition.
Book Value Fair value Fair value to
Common Knowledge adjustment the Group
Inc
£'000 £'000
£'000
Non-Current assets
Intangible assets 34 1,471 1,505
Property, plant and equipment 155 - 155
189 1,471 1,660
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 1,381 - 1,381
Cash 374 - 374
1,755 - 1,755
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 761 - 761
Tax liabilities 34 - 34
Total current liabilities 795 - 795
Net current assets 960 - 960
Net assets 1,149 1,471 2,620
Goodwill 3,195
Total 5,815
Cash consideration 4,336
Deferred consideration 1,128
Acquisition costs 351
Total 5,815
A significant amount of the value of the acquired business is attributable to
its workforce and sales knowhow. Also, the group anticipates significant
operational and geographical synergies to be achieved from the integration of
the existing and acquired businesses. As no assets can be recognised in respect
of these factors, they contribute to the goodwill recognised on acquisition.
Between 18 June 2008 and 31 December 2008, Common Knowledge contributed £
868,000 of the consolidated profit before tax.
Had the acquisition occurred on 1 January 2008, the turnover of the enlarged
group would have been £24,758,000 and the profit before tax would have been £
5,056,000.
9 Availability of Accounts
Copies of the Report and Accounts will be sent to shareholders shortly and will
be available from the registered office of the Company, 29 Curzon Street,
London W1J 7TL and the Company's website www.toluna-group.com.