Trading Update and Notice of Results

RNS Number : 4752V

Digitalbox PLC

10 August 2022

 

10 August 2022

Digitalbox plc

("Digitalbox" or "the Company") 

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash and The Tab, is pleased to provide the following trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2022 (the "Period" or "H1"). The Company intends to publish its Interim Results on 27 September 2022.

Digitalbox has had a strong first half of the 2022 financial year with revenue approximately 40% up year-on-year to £1.9m (H1 2021: £1.3m). At 30 June 2022, the Company had increased gross cash of £2.8m (FY 2021: £2.2m) and also increased net cash of £2.4m (FY 2021: £1.8m). The performance is a result of exceptionally strong traffic for Entertainment Daily, and ongoing improvements in the monetisation of The Tab and is significantly ahead of the Company's expectations for the Period.

Looking ahead, the acquisition of the web and mobile platform assets of TVGuide.co.uk Limited, announced in May 2022, is expected to complete in the second half of FY 2022 as scheduled. The Company then intends to focus on integrating these assets onto the Company's Graphene technology platform. As with The Tab, the Board expects this to enhance the site's revenue performance and profitability.

Production of a new series of The Daily Mash's successful spin-off TV show Late Night Mash has commenced with Rachel Parris confirmed as the new host. The first episode will air on Dave on Thursday 1 September 2022, with the following eight episodes released each Thursday.

A programme of product investment is underway across the portfolio to expand the content of Entertainment Daily, grow local student engagement and platform reach on The Tab and develop consumer revenues on The Daily Mash.

The Board continues to evaluate potential further acquisitions and will update the market in due course.

The Board anticipates that the challenging macro-economic conditions are likely to adversely impact advertising revenues in the second half of FY 2022, but given the exceptional performance in H1 2022 the Board remains confident of meeting market expectations for the full year FY 2022.

Market abuse regulation:  This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").

Enquiries:

Digitalbox	c/o SEC Newgate
James Carter, CEO
Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser, Financial Adviser & Joint Broker )	Tel: [phone]
Alina Vaskina / James Sinclair-Ford (Corporate Advisory)
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)
Alvarium Capital Partners (Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Alex Davies / Hugh Kingsmill Moore
SEC Newgate (Financial Communications)	Tel: [phone]
Robin Tozer / Moly Gretton / Max Richardson	[e-mail]

About Digitalbox plc

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

Digitalbox operates three trading brands, "Entertainment Daily", "The Tab" and "The Daily Mash". 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.

Digitalbox 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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