Trading update

RNS Number : 6102J

Mirriad Advertising PLC

14 December 2022

 

Mirriad Advertising plc

("Mirriad" or the "Company")

Trading update for the twelve months to 31 December 2022

Mirriad, the leading in-content advertising company, announces the following trading update for the twelve months ended 31 December 2022 ("the period").

FY22 headlines

• Revenue for the year to December 2022 is now expected to be £1.52m-£1.75m, slightly short of market expectations, pending a number of late deals which may be won and delivered before the year end

• Closing cash position at the end of December 2022 expected to be around £11.5m (December 2021 £24.5m) with year end cash to be better than market expectations due to cost control measures

• EBITDA loss of £15.5m, in line with market expectations

• US revenues to grow by between 36% and 64% to between £1.2m and £1.45m, accounting for around 80% of total revenue, despite a recently less favourable exchange rate

• Cost control programme to deliver £2.5m of total annualised savings, with the vast majority to be achieved in 2023

The Company ends the year in a better cash position than forecast, thanks to tight and ongoing efficiency measures. EBITDA loss is £15.5m, in line with projections. Revenue, in a range between £1.52m-£1.75m will be slightly short of market expectations with the final outturn depending on closing several outstanding deals and delivering those campaigns before the year end.  The Company notes the continued growth in the US despite a recently weaker dollar, as revenues continue to rebalance away from China.

Outlook and KPI performance

The Company accounts for revenue as deals are delivered to clients and with two weeks trading remaining this calendar year, the final revenue number will reflect that the Company's revenues are backloaded to Q4, with the December holiday period particularly important for advertisers and content owners in the US market. This is further evidenced by the significant volume of requests-for-proposal ("RFPs") the Company is currently receiving.

This year, the Company has continued its pivot to focus on the US, the world's largest advertising market with an estimated TAM of $106Bn and the home of globally leading entertainment companies and ad technology platforms.

In the US, the Company has increased the number of supply partners from 18 at the end of H1 2022 to 47 at the end of November 2022; the number of campaigns booked to 29 as at the end of November 2022 compared to 23 for FY 2021; and the number of active advertising agency partners to 13 as of the end of November 2022 compared to 7 at end of H1 2022. These KPIs underline the progress made by the Company to penetrate the US market and the continued momentum that will lead to monetisation of these opportunities.

In FY 2022, the Company has worked with 50% of the top ten global advertisers by spend, and the Company is further broadening and strengthening relationships with top tier advertisers, agencies, and multiple tier one TV, VOD, CTV and other content partners.

The Company's current US pipeline for Q4 FY 2022 and Q1 FY 2023 tracking is as follows:

Pipeline Q4 2022 & Q1 2023		RFP	Negotiating
Advertisers		45	8
Supply Partners		10	4
Technology Partners		N/A	9

Further technical developments

Technical progress is moving ahead, and the Company is now geared for the acceleration of its programmatic capability. The Company is regarded in the US as a leader in the in-content advertising space, which is underlined by the recent AdExchanger Award for most innovative TV advertising technology.

On the back of the ad server and supply side platform integrations as announced earlier in the year, the Company has now delivered its first in-content advertisements via an end-to-end programmatic transaction and is further expanding its ad and media tech capabilities and integrations, as well as its cloud partnerships.

Taking these factors together and considering the opening of streaming services to advertising, the Company, with 36 patents protecting its platform, remains well placed to benefit from the needs of the global advertising industry that is facing significant challenges, namely ad-skipping, dwindling viewer attention and the oversaturation of existing advertising breaks. Independent research has repeatedly shown that the Company's in-content placements are preferred by viewers and drive more favourability, consideration and sales.

Stephan Beringer, CEO of Mirriad , said: "The progress across key KPIs set out by the Board underlines the progress that is being made. Although revenue is likely to be slightly lower than anticipated, a positive direction of travel is clear, despite macro market headwinds. The ongoing increase in the proportion of our revenue coming from the US is encouraging, reflecting the proactive steps we have taken to address the world's largest advertising market. This ongoing structural change is underpinned by tight cost control measures, which have resulted in a better cash position than forecast.

"We now look forward to capitalising on the progress made in key areas like programmatic delivery and leveraging the high quality partners we have secured to run more campaigns in 2023. The challenges facing the advertising market are clear, and we are confident in Mirriad's unique ability to address these and deliver an experience that benefits brands, content owners and audiences alike."

ENDS

Enquiries:

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]

Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser and Broker :

Panmure Gordon

Alina Vaskina / James Sinclair-Ford (Corporate Advisory)

Erik Anderson (Corporate Broking)

Tel: [phone]

Financial Communications:

Charlotte Street Partners

Tom Gillingham Tel: [phone]

Andrew Wilson 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.

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 China.

 

END

 

 

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