CFO designate appointment and Strategic Review

Digitalbox PLC

28 November 2024

 

28 November 2024

Digitalbox plc

("Digitalbox" or the "Company" or the "Group")

CFO designate appointment and Strategic Review update

Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns leading websites, including Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Tab, The Poke, TV Guide and Emmerdale Insider, has appointed Richard Spilsbury as Chief Finance Officer and Company Secretary, and provides an update on the Strategic Review process, announced on 4 October 2024.

CFO Appointment

Richard Spilsbury has been appointed designate Chief Finance Officer and Company Secretary starting on 1 January 2025. It is intended that Richard will also join the Board as a Director at 1 January 2025, subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence by the Company's Nominated Adviser (pursuant to the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers).  A further announcement, including the requisite Schedule 2(g) disclosures required under the AIM Rules for Companies, will be made in due course upon Richard's appointment to the Board.

Richard will replace David Joseph who tendered his resignation in October. David will depart the Company and the board on December 31^st but will remain on hand until 31^st March 2025 to ensure an orderly handover.

Richard brings significant experience working within a listed company, from his time at Future plc where he spent 14 years to 2014, including roles as Finance Director and Group Corporate Development Director. Subsequent to his time at Future, among other roles, he was Corporate Development Director at Play Sports Group, which was focussed on sports digital video and marketing, and was acquired by Discovery Inc in 2019. He is Founder and currently CEO of corporate development advisory and corporate finance firm, Link Stone Advisory.

Strategic Review Update

The Strategic Review has progressed to a 'root and branch' appraisal of the existing business and the opportunities within it. Richard Spilsbury and Link Stone Advisory have been retained to support the executive in delivering the review to ensure the underlying business is not disrupted during the all important Q4 period. Richard will also continue to work with the Non-Executive Directors to conclude the review in the new year.

James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said: "Richard brings a wealth of experience to the business, and will help us from both a financial perspective and also contribute to our thinking around strategy.  We are looking forward to working with him."

Enquiries:

Digitalbox	c/o SEC Newgate
James Carter, CEO
Panmure Liberum (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
James Sinclair-Ford Rupert Dearden Dougie McLeod Rauf Munir
Leander Capital Partners (Joint Broker)	Tel:  [phone]
Alex Davies
SEC Newgate (Financial PR)	Tel: [phone]
Robin Tozer / Molly Gretton	[e-mail]

About Digitalbox plc

Based in the UK, Digitalbox is a 'pure-play' digital media business with the aim of profitable publishing at scale on mobile platforms.

Digitalbox operates the following trading brands, "Entertainment Daily", "The Daily Mash", "The Tab", "The Poke", "TV Guide" and "Emmerdale Insider". Entertainment Daily produces and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity news. The Daily Mash produces and publishes satirical news content. The Tab is the UK's biggest youth culture site fuelled by students. The Poke expertly curates and editorialises the funniest content from around the web and social media. TV Guide serves as the definitive guide to what is on TV. Emmerdale Insider charts the twists and turns of this ever present British soap staple.

Digitalbox primarily generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and around the content it publishes. The Group's optimisation for mobile enables it to achieve revenues per session significantly ahead of market norms for publishers on mobile.

 

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