Preliminary Results

ADVFN.COM PLC 20 October 2000 ADVFN.com PLC ('ADVFN' or 'the Company') Preliminary Results for the Year Ending 30 June 2000 ADVFN, one of the UK's leading on-line resources for financial information, today announces preliminary results for the year ending 30 June 2000. Key Financial Points: Year Ended 30 June 30 June 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Loss before Tax (29) (240) Net loss Per Share (0.016p) (0.144p) Cash in Bank 3,246 51 Highlights: - Successfully completed AIM listing. - Exceeded 1.5 million page impressions per day ahead of expectations. - Launched 'Level 2' service and released free real- time product. - Actively pursuing opportunities in 'new media' areas of Interactive Television and m-commerce. - Now operating two channels within Telewest's digital television offering supplying realtime prices, quotes, graphs, news and education. - Developing WAP enabled services - making 'Quote' content available on a standard WAP phone. Mike Boydell, ADVFN's Managing Director commented: 'ADVFN has now established itself as one of the top financial websites in Europe and has joined the elite of most heavily trafficked sites in the UK. Our expansion plans for the UK, Europe and Asia lead us to believe that our potential for growth is very exciting indeed.' For further information, please contact: ADVFN 020 7816 2636 Michael Boydell, Managing Director Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Jeremy Garcia/Alison Cole Chairman's Statement This is the first report for ADVFN.COM PLC and it comes very early in its life as both a public company and a service. ADVFN.COM first opened its doors to the public on 2nd December 1999. We floated on the AIM on 20th March 2000. Since then we have concentrated on building ADVFN with the aim of becoming the foremost website providing financial information on UK shares. We have worked hand in hand with our users to provide them with the service they want and we have added a myriad of features to become the most comprehensive and sophisticated investor website in the UK. We brought level 2 share information to the service in August this year and released our free unlimited real-time product. This has led to further accelerated growth and as we reported during September our page impressions went through the 1.5 million a day barrier. This attention to the needs of the market has seen the rise in our page impressions grow beyond our highest expectations. It now appears as I write that we are the leader in the field. All of this, from what was just an idea one year ago. This performance is a direct result of the dedication of the team at ADVFN.COM, who's commitment to create the best possible financial information website has paid off in making ADVFN one of the most popular websites in the UK. We believe very much in listening to our audience and many have become our shareholders as well. Likewise we hope that our shareholders will actually use ADVFN and we encourage you to logon to ADVFN.com and see your investment at work. It is part of our ethos to give our users access to the heart of the City, so it is apt that our new office location will be across the street from the London Stock Exchange itself. This will give us the opportunity to grow and also bring under our own roof our popular investor training courses. The next twelve months looks set to be as exciting and positive as the last twelve. We believe we can capitalise on our growth and establish ourselves as one of the leading Internet brands, which we feel is an exciting prospect both as a business and as a service. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the team at ADVFN.COM for their hard work and many long nights. It is this dedication that has allowed us to create the company we have today, of which I am very proud. Michael J Hodges Chairman 19 October 2000 Managing Director's Review Operating Review ADVFN.com Plc is one of the leading on-line resources for financial information on the World Wide Web for investors in the United Kingdom. 1999-2000 has been a very good year for ADVFN as we launched our site and successfully completed our listing on the Alternative Investment Market in March. We have enjoyed rapid development and a rate of growth that has far surpassed expectations. In August we launched two new products which have been well received, and we believe they will pave the way for a dramatic change in the way retail investors make investment decisions using the latest technology. Our aggressive development initiatives coupled with our unique approach to customer service have made our site a compelling first port of call for the knowledgeable 'wired' investor. Website usage statistics issued in both August and in September confirm that the ADVFN brand has reached a high level of market acceptance exceeding even our most optimistic projections. As we have now reached a critical mass in the UK, we will be turning our attention to monetising our extensive traffic and the coming months will see us working hard to maximise revenues from what we hope will continue to be a growing base. While revenue from subscriptions and training programmes are healthy, advertising and sponsorship revenue offer an extremely lucrative avenue, which we are beginning to capitalise on as our brand continues to grow. New Media We have been actively pursuing opportunities in the 'new media' areas of Interactive Television and m-commerce, and on 5 June, announced an agreement with Telewest Communications for ADVFN to broadcast over Telewest's broadband networks. ADVFN now has two channels within Telewest's digital television offering supplying real time prices, quotes, graphs, news and education. Interactive television is widely forecast to become the medium of choice that households will use to see interactive information. Merrill Lynch estimates that household penetration in the UK will reach 80% by 2008. ADVFN is currently adapting its content to co-ordinate with this media early on in order to gain a competitive advantage through experience in this nascent market as we are positioning ourselves to be market leaders in this field. We view the wireless market to be an area of limitless potential for expansion and development. International Data Corporation estimates that within 4 years' time 270 million Europeans will have access to wireless mobile telephony devices of which 69% or 186 million will be WAP enabled. ADVFN has been building up its m-commerce offering by making our Quote content accessible by WAP-enabled mobile devices. Currently, real time prices, top percentage gainers, top percentage losers, news and company RNS announcements can be viewed on a standard WAP phone. While WAP is in its early stages, we see the coming m-commerce platforms as providing an exciting opportunity for revenue from both subscription, advertising and interconnect revenue. These major developments are part of ADVFN's vision of empowering investors through the broadest range of media available to date. The company's human wealth (Consumer Focus) The success of ADVFN lies primarily in the quality of the service provided to our customers. Our high quality of service makes our company a standard in the UK. The input from our customers is paramount to our way forward, and that is why we listen to suggestions and comments, and react as quickly as possible to customer input. We feel that this has been critical to our success. Our efforts to meet our customers through regional Focus Groups is exceptional in British business and is a vital process in the development of our operations. Technology Technology is key to the performance of our website. We have inherited many of the skills and processes learnt in the games industry from our parent company On-line PLC. This has served us well, enabling our rapid expansion and the opportunity to grow at a very fast pace without vast expenditure. Our technological skills will continue to be of prime importance as we grow. We are leveraging this 'core competence' to provide new tools and services at a rapid rate, and feel that we will remain at the forefront of developments. In line with this, our 3D data visualisation software, 2C, has been receiving extensive coverage in the Internet's premier magazine WIRED and its initial release in 4th quarter 2000 is expected to be a strong draw for ADVFN. We now hold key pending patents on its visualisation technology and are looking to 2001 as the year where it will establish itself as a new platform for investment decision making. Our plans for the product are to focus on generic tools and models to give 2C a global application for data representation. Revenue Trading in the period was much in line with expectations. The figures represent a small window on this first few weeks of trading. With the substantial increase we have seen in traffic we are now entering a phase of monetisation earlier than expected and we are optimistic that revenues will develop at a rate in line with our user base. New pricing levels (from 1st August 2000) at £5 and £35 per month are already showing a positive impact on subscription income. Our inventory of banner advertising is potentially one of the largest in the industry and with such a high value demographic audience we have an opportunity for premium pricing. We are recruiting a new internal Sales Team to give us further leverage and opportunity. As an Internet start up we are unusual in being able to charge a Premium subscription for services on our sites. The initial launch prices for parts of the site at £5 and £15 per month levels have now been changed to reflect new content and data provision. Success Events The acquisition by ADVFN of Success Events during May 2000 was an important step for our business model of providing not only the best possible investment tools but also enabling us to educate our users and third parties in the intricacies of investment and trading. Success Events has also surpassed expectations since its acquisition and is now expanding its range of courses. The content and the quality of presentation has been roundly praised and the company is now established as the leader in its field. Prospects ADVFN has now established itself as one of the top financial websites in Europe and has joined the elite of most heavily trafficked sites in the UK. Our expansion plans for the UK, Europe and Asia lead us to believe that our potential for growth is very exciting indeed. Michael Boydell Managing Director 19 October 2000 Consolidated Profit and Loss Account for the year ended 30 June 2000 Group Company 2000 1999 £000 £000 £000 £000 Notes Turnover Continuing operations 90 - Acquisition 28 - ----- ----- 118 - Discontinued operations 1,120 1,008 ----- ----- 1,238 1,008 Cost of sales (21) (30) ----- ----- Gross profit 1,217 978 Administrative expenses (1,287) (1,216) ------- ------- Operating profit / (loss) Continuing operations (663) - Acquisition - - ----- ---- (663) - Discontinued operations 593 (238) ----- ----- (70) (238) Net interest 41 (2) ------ ------ Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (29) (240) Tax on loss on ordinary activities (2) - ------ ----- Loss on ordinary activities after taxation (31) (240) ------ ----- Loss per ordinary share 2 0.016p 0.144p There were no recognised gains or losses other than the loss for the financial year. Balance Sheets at 30 June 2000 Group Company Company 2000 2000 1999 Notes £000 £000 £000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 1,349 1,014 - Tangible assets 9 - 119 Investments - 350 - ----- ----- ---- 1,358 1,364 119 Current assets Stocks - finished goods for resale - - 12 Debtors 153 151 229 Cash at bank and in hand 3,246 3,227 51 ----- ----- ---- 3,399 3,378 292 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (493) (476) (355) Net current assets / (liabilities) 2,906 2,902 (63) ----- ----- ----- Total assets less current liabilities 4,264 4,266 56 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year - - (553) ------ ----- ----- Net assets 4,264 4,266 (497) Capital and reserves Called up share capital 2,505 2,505 2 Share premium account 2,336 2,336 47 Profit and loss account (577) (575) (546) ------ ----- ----- Shareholder's funds 3 4,264 4,266 (497) The accounts were approved by the Board of Directors on 19 October 2000. Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the year ended 30 June 2000 Group Company Notes 2000 1999 £000 £000 Net cash (outflow) / inflow from operating Activities 4 (147) 453 Returns on investment and servicing of finance Interest received 46 - Interest paid (5) (2) ----- ----- 41 (2) Capital expenditure Payments to acquire (1,154) (364) intangible fixed assets Payments to acquire tangible (73) (120) fixed assets Sale of tangible fixed assets 166 - ------- ----- (1,061) (484) Acquisition Purchase of subsidiary undertaking (350) - ------- ----- Net cash outflow before financing (1,517) (33) Financing Issue of ordinary share capital 4,792 - Capital element of new finance leases and hire purchase contracts - 101 Capital element of finance lease and hire purchase contracts repaid (93) (21) ----- ------ Net cash inflow from financing 4,699 80 ----- ------ Increase in cash 5 3,182 47 Notes 1. Basis of preparation The financial information herein does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The financial information has been extracted from the group's statutory financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2000 upon which the auditors opinion is unqualified and does not include any statement under section 237 of the Companies Act 1985. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards and under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies of the group have remained unchanged since the previous year, except for the policies on group financial statements, investments and financial instruments which are new this year. Copies of the annual report are being posted to shareholders and copies will be available from the company's registered office at Crown House, Linton Road, Barking, Essex, IG11 8HJ. 2. Loss per ordinary share Group Company 2000 1999 Number Loss Number Loss of per of per Loss shares share Loss shares share £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Loss for the year (31) (240) Weighted average number of shares 194,006 166,800 Loss per share 0.016p 0.144p 3. Reconciliation of movements in shareholders's funds Group Company 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Loss for the financial year (31) (240) Receipts from issues of shares 4,792 - ----- ----- Net increase in shareholders' funds in the year 4,761 (240) Shareholders' funds at 1 July 1999 (497) (257) ----- ----- Shareholders' funds at 30 June 2000 4,264 (497) 4. Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash (outflow) / inflow from operating activities Group Company 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Operating loss (70) (238) Amortisation 151 431 Depreciation 34 38 Profit on sale of tangible fixed assets (8) - Decrease / (increase) in stocks 12 (12) Decrease / (increase) in debtors 86 (26) (Decrease) / increase in creditors (352) 260 Net cash (outflow) / inflow from ----- ---- operating activities (147) 453 5. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds Group Company 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Increase in cash for the year 3,182 47 Cash acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 13 - New finance leases and hire purchase agreements - (101) Cash outflow from capital repayment of hire purchase and finance lease agreements 93 21 ----- ----- Movement in net cash / (debt) in the year 3,288 (33) Net debt at 1 July 1999 (42) (9) ----- ----- Net cash / (debt) at 30 June 2000 3,246 (42) 6. Analysis of net cash / (debt) Group Company 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Cash at bank 3,246 51 Finance lease and hire purchase agreements - (93) ----- ----- Total 3,426 (42)

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