Interim Trading Update

RNS Number : 5118V

Ebiquity PLC

24 July 2018

 

Ebiquity Plc                                          

("the Company")

Interim Trading Update

Ebiquity plc, a leading independent marketing and media consultancy, today announces its interim update for the 6 months ended 30 June 2018 ("the period").

Whilst first half revenues from the Media (formerly Media Value Measurement) segment and Analytics & Tech (formerly Marketing Performance Optimization) segment grew 7% over the prior year on a like-for-like ("LFL") basis, uncertainty arising from the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") investigation into the planned disposal of the Intel segment to Nielsen, announced in February 2018, has impacted Intel sales with H1 2018 LFL revenues down 9% versus 2017.

We have accelerated the phasing of investment in the growing Media and Analytics & Tech segments (representing c78% of the business) in the first half on the back of strong new business pipelines. As a result, we already have visibility into faster (double digit) revenue growth within these segments in H2 2018. Although this accelerated investment will impact H1 operating profit, performance in these segments for the full year is anticipated to meet existing expectations.

In the Intel segment (representing c22% of the business), the CMA Phase 2 process is  formally due to complete no later than December 2018, we therefore anticipate that uncertainty will continue to impact revenues and profits in the second half of the year.

Overall, the impact of the performance of the Intel segment will not be entirely offset by the strong performance from Media and Analytics & Tech and consequently the Board currently anticipates profits for the year to be less than full-year market expectations.

The Company will release its interim report for the 6 months ended 30 June 2018 on 25 September 2018.

24 July 2018

Enquiries:

Ebiquity plc Michael Karg (CEO) Andrew Noble (CFO)	020 7650 9600
Instinctif Partners Matthew Smallwood Guy Scarborough	020 7457 2020
Numis Securities Limited Nick Westlake (NOMAD) Toby Adcock (Corporate Broker)	020 7260 1000

 

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