Tough times are forcing companies to think hard about the effectiveness and impact of their marketing and, judging by results at Ebiquity, measuring and evaluating the impact of advertising on consumers using social media is proving to be a resilient niche. That said, the uncertain economic climate has inevitably delayed procurement decisions since customers need to be confident enough in the wider economy to invest in the company's products and services.
Acquisitions to boost Ebiquity's analytics division played an important part in generating the 23 per cent underlying EPS growth in the latest 12-month trading period. The company spent £11.3m during the financial year acquiring four businesses in Australia, Russia and Europe (earnouts and deferred consideration could lead to a further £15m payment), which in turn drove revenue up 56 per cent to £27.9m at the analytics division. But, even without the benefit of acquisitions, underlying sales there were up 9 per cent. The disposal of Newslive affected the platform division, which supplies advertising monitoring services, with revenues 5 per cent lower at £24.9m. However, renewal rates for the service were maintained at 92 per cent.
Broker Numis Securities forecasts current year pre-tax profits of £9.6m and EPS of 8.8p, up from £7.6m and 7.4p, respectively, in the year to April 2012.
EBIQUITY (EBQ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 90p | MARKET VALUE: | £50.4m | |
| TOUCH: | 88-92p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 94p | LOW: 68p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 39 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 63p* | NET DEBT: | 34% | |
| Year to 30 Apr | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 17.2 | -1.37 | 1.94 | nil |
| 2009 | 18.4 | 1.17 | -4.00 | nil |
| 2010 | 21.2 | 0.10 | 0.50 | nil |
| 2011 | 44.1 | -1.77 | -2.15 | nil |
| 2012 | 53.0 | 2.64 | 2.29 | nil |
| % change | +20 | - | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £55.5m, or 99p a share | ||||
