Interim Results
ADVFN PLC
30 March 2005
Embargoed for release until 7.00 a.m. Wednesday 30th March 2005
ADVFN PLC
('ADVFN' or 'the Company')
Unaudited Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 December 2004
ADVFN, Europe's leading stocks and shares website, today announces maiden
profits in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December
2004.
Highlights:
• A maiden profit of £2.36M (including exceptional profit) (2003: £147K
loss)
• Exceptional profit of £2.2M on sale of subsidiary
• EBITDA up 112% to £638K (2003: £301K)
• Operating profit for the first time of £113K (2003: £153K loss)
• Earnings per share of 0.56p (including exceptional profit) (2003: 0.04p
loss)
• Record user numbers up 50% to 450,000 (2003: 300,000)
Clement Chambers, Managing Director of ADVFN commented:
'We are pleased to announce our interim figures which show a very strong
performance and are delighted to announce a maiden profit. ADVFN has never been
in a stronger position and the figures reflect an ongoing momentum. ADVFN is
well placed for the next phase of expansion and this process is well underway.
We firmly believe we can reproduce ADVFN's UK success on a global scale. While
this is a significant challenge which will not be achieved overnight, it is one
that is well within our capabilities and one that offers exciting prospects for
the business and our shareholders.'
For further information, please contact:
ADVFN
Clement Chambers, Managing Director clemc@advfn.com
Michael Hodges, Chairman mikeh@advfn.com
Francesca De Franco, PR francescad@advfn.com 020 7070 0932
ADVFN PLC
Chairman's Statement
As you will have seen from the attached results we have had a good start to the
year, which sees us announcing a maiden profit. .
We have continued to expand the ADVFN service and have added more exchanges
including the Singapore Stock Exchange, the first in a range of Asian markets
coming to the site. This has come as a result of a reengineering of our
infrastructure which now allows for 24 hour uninterrupted service, crucial for
markets which operate in windows once used for downtime, like Singapore and
other Asian markets. This is the first of the Asian exchanges to come online and
opens the way for ADVFN to become a leading provider in these exciting markets.
Parallel to these plans we are actively looking for acquisitions. We feel that
now is a good moment to be more active in this area as we have built a strong
platform of audience and technology that acquired companies would benefit from.
Late last year, we raised £1.9 million after costs to allow us to accelerate our
growth and expansion plans.
ADVFN's success has allowed us to explore other areas of business and in
November we reversed one of our subsidiaries All Ipo Limited into Akaei PLC and
formed ALL IPO PLC of which we now own 48.3%, worth approximately £3 million in
the market today. This transaction gave rise to the exceptional profit of £2.2
million included within the results. ALL IPO will make available, to private
investors, shares of companies that are coming to the market and wishing to
raise capital via the Internet. Retail investors will be able to participate
on-line in IPOs and other fundraisings by applying for new issues of shares
during an IPO via a fully on-line process. Investors will be able to view
investment opportunities, apply for shares, pay and have their investments
confirmed in an end-to-end electronic process.
CupidBay (www.cupidbay.com) has continued to move ahead at a relentless pace,
which has seen it very rapidly move up the web rankings. CupidBay is still in
its early development stage but the site has now surpassed the 200,000
registered user level, with members from over 233 countries, and it continues to
expand beyond our expectations.
All of the ADVFN team have worked exceptionally hard over the past six months
and continue to do so and I would like to thank them all for their time and
effort. I would urge all shareholders to take a look at the site at:
www.advfn.com, as we believe the tools and data available are invaluable to
anyone with an interest in the financial markets.
Michael J Hodges
Chairman
29th March 2005
Managing Director's Review
Operating Review
We achieved operating profits for the first time of £113K, for the six month
period to 31st December 2004, compared to a £153K loss for the same period last
year and a net profit after tax of £2.36M (after including the exceptional
profit of £2.2M) compared to £147K loss last year. Turnover was up 13% to £1.5M
from £1.3M last year.
We also recorded our first earnings per share of 0.56p per share (after
including the exceptional profit) compared to 0.04p loss last year and our
EBITDA figures displayed the strength in our performance with a 112% increase to
£638K from £301K last year as can be seen from the following table:-
EBITDA - Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and
exceptional items
December December June
2004 2003 2004
£'000 £'000 £'000
Profit/ (loss) before tax - per
accounts 2,356 (147) (86)
Amortisation 130 130 260
Depreciation 400 324 690
Exceptional item - Profit on sale
of subsidiary (2,239) 0 0
Net interest (9) (6) (12)
EBITDA 638 301 852
We are pleased that despite aggressively investing in ADVFN's platform and brand
we have managed to achieve a maiden profit and continued strong growth in
EBITDA. In addition we have accelerated our programme of introducing new stock
markets and other data to our site. Since our last results we have expanded our
offerings to include market data from Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Canada,
Switzerland and Singapore and also additional data from Archipelago and GTIS
Forex.
Our user base has continued to grow and at the end of December 2004 had grown
50% to over 450,000 users compared to 300,000 at December of the previous year.
Current Trading
Since the period end I am pleased to report that our user base has continued to
expand further and our turnover has grown in line with improved market
conditions for both subscription income and advertising revenue.
We are actively involved in negotiations for the majority of remaining stock
markets around the world and expect to bring most of these on-line over the next
year. Progress in the US has been solid, with subscriptions growing and
advertising income rising with traffic levels. With NASDAQ and NYSE Level 2
products now set to come on stream we are hopeful the US business will
experience more accelerated growth.
CupidBay continues to expand and in many ways is outstripping its development
plans. Subscription income and advertising revenue continue to increase at
levels well in excess of our original expectations. The coming year will see
CupidBay continue to build its income by monetising its growing traffic.
Prospects
ADVFN is moving towards becoming a mature platform and as it does our focus is
moving subtly towards a greater emphasis on marketing and sales. This does not
mean we will be reducing our development outlay but we will be increasingly more
focused in growing our revenues by leveraging the product potential of the ADVFN
platform.
We see no reason why ADVFN should not be as successful in other global markets
as it is in the UK. We are addressing this vision in our normal way, by close
interaction with our user base, innovation and close regard to costs. While
ADVFN continues to enjoy its market leading status in the UK, we have no plans
to sit back on our laurels. The global potential of ADVFN is the real
opportunity and one we are committed to deliver.
Clement Chambers
Managing Director
29th March 2005
ADVFN PLC
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
for the six months ended 31 December 2004
Six months ended Six months ended Year ended
31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Turnover 1,503 1,334 2,951
Cost of sales (87) (60) (128)
__________ __________ __________
Gross profit 1,416 1,274 2,823
Administrative expenses (1,303) (1,427) (2,969)
__________ __________ __________
Operating profit / (loss) 113 (153) (146)
Share of operating losses
of associate (5) - -
Profit on sale of
investments - - 48
Exceptional item : profit
on sale of subsidiary 2,239 - -
__________ __________ __________
2,347 (153) (98)
Net interest 9 6 12
__________ __________ __________
Profit / (loss) on
ordinary activities
before taxation 2,356 (147) (86)
Tax on profit / (loss) on
ordinary activities - - 7
__________ __________ __________
Profit / (loss) on
ordinary activities after
taxation 2,356 (147) (79)
__________ __________ __________
Earnings / (loss) per
ordinary share 0.56p (0.04p) (0.019p)
There were no recognised gains or losses other than the result for the financial
period.
ADVFN PLC
Consolidated Balance Sheets
at 31 December 2004
31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed Assets
Intangible assets 412 672 541
Tangible assets 2,195 1,140 1,412
Investments 2,234 - -
4,841 1,812 1,953
Current Assets
Debtors 493 560 544
Cash at bank and in hand 2,100 430 530
2,593 990 1,074
Creditors: amounts
falling due within one
year (712) (527) (667)
Net current assets 1,881 463 407
Total assets less
current liabilities 6,722 2,275 2,360
Capital and Reserves
Called up share capital 4,609 4,059 4,070
Share premium account 5,400 3,926 3,933
Profit and loss account (3,287) (5,710) (5,643)
Shareholders' funds -
equity 6,722 2,275 2,360
ADVFN PLC
Consolidated Cash Flow Statements
for the six months ended 31 December 2004
Six months Six months Year
ended ended ended
31 December 31 December 30 June
2004 2003 2004
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£'000 £'000 £'000
Net cash inflow
from operating
activities 717 209 706
----------- ----------- -----------
Returns on investment and servicing of
finance
Interest received 10 7 13
Interest paid (1) (1) (1)
----------- ----------- -----------
9 6 12
----------- ----------- -----------
Taxation - 204 311
Capital expenditure
Payments to
acquire tangible
fixed assets (1,152) (610) (1,248)
Proceeds from
disposal of fixed
asset investments - - 110
----------- ----------- -----------
(1,152) (610) (1,138)
----------- ----------- -----------
Net cash outflow
before financing (426) (191) (109)
Financing
Issue of ordinary
share capital 2,117 - 18
Share issue costs (121) - -
----------- ----------- -----------
Net cash inflow
from financing 1,996 - 18
----------- ----------- -----------
Increase /
(decrease) in
cash 1,570 (191) (91)
=========== =========== ===========
ADVFN PLC
Notes to the interim statement
for the six months ended 31 December 2004
1. Earnings / (loss) per ordinary share
Six months ended Six months ended Year ended
31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June
2004
Profit / (loss) for
the period £'000 2,356 (147) (79)
Weighted average
number of shares '000 418,652 405,900 406,304
Earnings / (loss)
per share P 0.56p (0.04p) (0.019p)
2. The directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend.
3. The financial information contained in this document does not constitute
statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985.
The financial information for the year ended 30 June 2004 is extracted from the
audited financial statements for that period on which the auditors gave an
unqualified report. A copy of those financial statements has been filed with the
Registrar of Companies.
4. Copies of this statement are being posted to shareholders shortly and will be
available from the company's registered office at 642a Lea Bridge Road, Leyton,
London, E10 6AP.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
FSVEIAFIE