Trading update for the six months to 30 June 2023

Mirriad Advertising PLC

18 July 2023

 

18 July 2023

Mirriad Advertising plc

("Mirriad" or the "Company")

Trading update for the six months to 30 June 2023

Mirriad, the leading in-content advertising company, announces the following trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2023 ("the period").

H1 headlines

·    Revenues for H1 modestly ahead of 2022 at £592k (H1 2022 £577k) following the final exit from China

·    Revenues from continuing operations +26% at £576k in H1 2023 (H1 2022 £458k)

·    Gross proceeds of fundraising closed in May 2023 of £6.3m (net £5.7m)

·    Closing cash at the end of June 2023 £9.8m (June 2022 £17.7m)

·    Restructuring plans to substantially reduce the monthly net cash burn completed by the end of May 2023, incurring restructuring costs of £311k

The Board is pleased that the Company has shown an increase in overall H1 revenue compared to 2022.  As previously announced in the fundraising on 16 May 2023 this is against a backdrop of significant and ongoing US advertising market pressure which started in Q4 2022 and continued in H1 2023 with campaigns taking longer to book and being booked closer to air date than historically. 

The US advertising market had shown year on year declines for each of the 10 months to April 2023 and this has impacted the Company's US revenues, which showed a year-on-year reduction to £313k (H1 2022 £418k).

Revenues in EMEA increased materially to £252k (H1 2022 £37k) driven by growth in the Company's German business and the acquisition of a new client in the Middle East. 

The Company undertook a significant restructuring during H1 2023 addressing both staff and non-staff costs.  In particular there was the final closure of its Chinese operations, as previously announced, and a cost reduction programme across the remaining business.  Ultimately this resulted in staff redundancies in all of the Company's continuing operating companies and a material reduction in US headcount, which reduced from 16 to 11 staff at the end of May 2023. Overall headcount in continuing operations reduced from 112 at the end of April to 91 at the end of June 2023.

Outlook

Overall, the Board is encouraged by the forward sales pipeline in the US and anticipates a pick-up in US activity in H2 2023.  The Board also notes that Mirriad revenues are historically seasonal with significantly higher revenue expected in H2 compared to H1.  The Company anticipates a similar pattern of revenue to FY2022 with H2 revenue approximately twice that of H1.

Integration work, testing and partnership discussions continue with multiple large entertainment companies in the US and the Board anticipates that one or more of these companies will ultimately contract with Mirriad for the provision of services by the end of 2023.  The Company remains on track to deliver a fully programmatic service to US customers with programmatic revenues expected in 2024.     

The Company will provide further updates in its interim results, which will be released in the week commencing 21 August 2023.

Stephan Beringer, CEO of Mirriad, said: "We are in line with our internal revenue expectations despite an adverse macro environment, the fact that 2023 is our first year without any meaningful revenue from China, and our focus on programmatic as we move from the market building phase.

To date our revenue profile is based on a manual sales process, and we have flagged 2023 as the year we initiate the transition from this first adoption phase to programmatic selling, which is expected to open up true scale.  We anticipate US momentum gathering in H2, building to programmatic revenues in this market in 2024."

ENDS

For further information please visit www.mirriad.com or contact:

Mirriad Advertising plc Stephan Beringer, Chief Executive Officer David Dorans, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser & Broker: Panmure Gordon   James Sinclair-Ford / Daphne Zhang (Corporate Advisory) Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]
Financial Communications: Charlotte Street Partners             Tom Gillingham Fergus McGowan	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]

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"). Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Notes to Editors

About Mirriad

Mirriad's award-winning solution unleashes new revenue for content producers and distributors by creating new advertising inventory in content. Our patented, AI and computer vision technology dynamically inserts products and innovative signage formats after content is produced. Mirriad's market-first solution seamlessly integrates with existing subscription and advertising models, and dramatically improves the viewer experience by limiting commercial interruptions. 

Mirriad currently operates in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

 

END