Blinkx 's (BLNX) strategy for dealing with the shifting advertising landscape has been to scrap peripheral offerings and zero in on the key growth markets of mobile and video advertising and 'programmatic' or automated ad-trading. But lower sales of legacy offerings and fierce competition meant the video-advertising specialist's adjusted operating loss for the six months to September more than tripled to $13.1m (£8.6m).
Mobile, video and programmatic revenue leapt 37 per cent to $63m - 69 per cent of group revenue, up from 43 per cent a year ago. Management also closed and combined offices and slashed headcount, driving total expenses down 5 per cent to about $105m. At the same time, however, non-core revenue more than halved. The group also stomached an impairment charge against goodwill of $50.3m and wrote down $9m in other intangible assets.
Blinkx consolidated its various products under the RhythmOne brand. It also launched RhythmMax, an automated marketplace for all sorts of ads across desktop, mobile and television screens, and took steps to root out fraudsters and malicious adverts by partnering with verification specialists. These efforts helped recruit more ad buyers, suppliers and publishers, and win work with advertisers including Google and Nestle.
Broker Citi expects a full-year pre-tax loss of $3.3m, giving nil EPS (FY 2015: losses of $7.8m and 1¢).
| BLINKX (BLNX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 25p | MARKET VALUE: | £101m | |
| TOUCH: | 25-25.3p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 41p | LOW: 15p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 41¢* | NET CASH: | $82.3m† | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 106 | -9.7 | -3.0 | nil |
| 2015 | 91 | -79.3 | -19.8 | nil |
| % change | -14 | - | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of $66.5m, or 16¢ a share †Includes marketable securities of $60m £1=$1.52 | ||||
