Trading Update and Notice of Results

RNS Number : 0018Z

Brave Bison Group PLC

20 January 2022

 

20 January 2022

Brave Bison Group plc

("Brave Bison" or the "Company")

Trading Update & Notice of Results

Brave Bison, the social and digital media company, is pleased to provide the following trading update in relation to the year ending 31 December 2021 ("FY21"), and announces that the Company expects to report its full-year audited results for FY21 in April 2022.

Trading in the second half of the year has been strong. Revenues and viewing numbers across the Company's advertising network have been robust, and Brave Bison's agency won several new customers during the final quarter of the year. Furthermore, the integration of Greenlight is well advanced and all previously identified synergies for FY21 have been achieved.

Consequently, Brave Bison expects to report results that are ahead of current market forecasts and the corresponding period from the prior year.

Adjusted Operating Profit is expected to be not less than £1.4m, and Profit Before Tax is expected to be not less than £0.4m. Profit Before Tax is stated after incurring acquisition costs of approximately £0.7m and is expected to be the first statutory Profit Before Tax in the Company's eight-year history as a public company.

Financial Highlights

FY21 expected results stated as not less than	FY21	FY20A	Change
Revenue	£21 .3m	£14.5m	+47%
Gross Profit	£7.7m	£4.0m	+93%
Adj. EBITDA (1)	£1.7m	£0.1m	+1,600%
Adj. O perating Profit (2)	£1.4m	(£1.2m)	n/a
Adj. EBITDA Per Share	0.16p	0.02p	+864%
Profit Before Tax	£0.4m	(£2.3m)	n/a
Gross Cash	£5.9m	£2.8m	+111%
Net Cash	£4.7m	£2.7m	+74%

(1) Adj. EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation, and after adding back acquisition costs, restructuring costs and share-based payments. Under IFRS16 most of the costs associated with the Company's property leases are classified as depreciation and interest, therefore Adj. EBITDA is stated before deducting these costs.

(2) Adj. Operating Profit is stated after adding back acquisition costs, restructuring costs and share-based payments, and is after the deduction of costs associated with property leases.

· Strong anticipated financial performance for the year, including:

§ Revenue increased by not less than 47% and Gross Profit increased by not less than 93%

§ Adj. EBITDA increased by not less than 1,600%

§ Adj. EBITDA Per Share increased by not less than 864%

§ Adj. Operated Profit of not less than £1.4m

§ Profit Before Tax of not less than £0.4m

· Cash balance as at 31 December 2021 of £5.9m (30 June 2021: £3.0m). Positive free cash flow of £2.9m in H2 2021, despite 100% of the proceeds from Brave Bison's oversubscribed £6.2m share placing being utilised in connection with the acquisition of Greenlight

· Flexible balance sheet at year-end, primed to support the growth of Brave Bison in 2022. The Company has approximately £4.7m of net cash after deducting outstanding loans (Government-backed Coronavirus support loans) and deferred consideration

Operational Highlights

· The transformational acquisition of Greenlight is now complete, approximately doubling revenues on a pro-forma basis. Integration is well advanced, with all teams now sharing a single HQ in King's Cross, London. The Company intends to launch a new proposition to the market in H1 2022 under the Brave Bison brand

· Brave Bison's social media network continues to thrive, with the addition of five new shows on Snapchat, three of which were created under The Hook brand, which the Company acquired in 2020. Furthermore, multiple new YouTube channels were added during the year, including Ryder Cup , CPLT20 and the popular Scandinavian talk show Skavlan

· Launched The Wave House in partnership with a specialist influencer agency. The Wave House is one of the most popular 'Creator Mansions' in the UK, attracting millions of likes and views across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat

· H2 2021 client wins and renewals include a FTSE100 consumer products group (under NDA), a FTSE250 retailer (under NDA), Vodafone, Globetrotter and Asus

· New leadership hires including Buster Dover as Chief Operating Officer, and Hannah Kimuyu promoted to Managing Director, Performance & SEO

Oliver Green, Executive Chairman, commented:

"In the last 12 months Brave Bison has been able to grow revenues, make a highly accretive & strategic acquisition, deliver a maiden statutory profit and generate a significant amount of cash. We expect trading to remain strong as our customers respond positively to Brave Bison's new proposition that combines an owned digital media network with a suite of social and digital marketing services. Supported by our strong balance sheet we expect to grow our footprint across the digital ecosystem throughout 2022 and beyond."

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information pursuant to Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended.  Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

For further information please contact:

Brave Bison Group plc

Oliver Green, Executive Chairman    via Cenkos

Theo Green, Chief Growth Officer

Philippa Norridge, Chief Financial Officer

Cenkos Securities plc     Tel: [phone]

Nominated Adviser & Broker

Nicholas Wells

Ben Jeynes

About Brave Bison

Brave Bison (AIM: BBSN) is a social and digital media company, headquartered in London with additional offices in Singapore and Eastern Europe.

Brave Bison is unique in that it is both a digital media owner, as well as a digital media agency. The Company owns and operates its own channels, and the communities attached to them, as well as offering customers a suite of advertising services to help reach digital audiences.

Brave Bison has two core lines of business. Firstly, the publishing of content on social media channels to generate advertising revenue. Brave Bison operates over 650 channels including PGA Tour and US Open on YouTube, Cooking Wild and DIY & Crafts on Facebook and Slick and VSatisfying on Snap Discover. The amount of revenue generated from a channel depends on how many people watch the content, who these people are and where they are based.

The second line of business involves the execution of social and digital advertising campaigns for global, blue-chip brands such as Panasonic, New Balance, Primark, Vodafone and Samsung. Key advertising channels include Paid Search (on advertising platforms such as Google and Amazon), Paid Social (on advertising platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok), Influencer Marketing and eCommerce Technology (on commerce platforms such as SAP, Salesforce, BigCommerce). These advertising services generate fee-based income, typically from customers retained for 12 months or more.

 

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