An upbeat update a fortnight ago meant few surprises from Blinkx (BLNX), the world's largest video search engine, but the results are impressive nonetheless. Aside from surging sales and profits, the company is doing a good job at converting profits into cash. Net cash from operating activities more than doubled to $4.7m (£2.1m) which swelled the cash pile by $3.2m to $41.6m. “A strong cash conversion cycle is the most important thing to me,” says Brian Mukherjee, chief executive.
Blinkx benefited from one-off events, such as the Olympics and the US Presidential elections. Mr Mukherjee argues, though, that the faster than anticipated integration of Burst and PVMG means Blinkx is well placed to repeat the first-half performance. The acquisitions give Blinkx access to around 3,500 publishers of content and tens of millions of consumers, says Mr Mukherjee, which are now linked to potential advertisers by the firm’s search engine. “We can now serve a greater number of high value ads to a wider audience,” he added.
Blinks has bagged more distribution deals, too, including one with Sony and Popbox. Kiplinger, Hulu and Fox Sports are notable additions to the content roster and new advertising clients include Google, Asda and Gillette.
Post results, broker Canaccord Genuity upgraded full-year adjusted pre-tax profit and diluted EPS estimates by 6 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, to $13.8m and 3.4¢. The broker expects rapid growth next year, too, forecasting pre-tax profits and EPS of $27.4m and 5.6¢.
BLINKX (BLNX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 72.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £264m | |
| TOUCH: | 72-72.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 119p | LOW: 33p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 94 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 36¢* | NET CASH: | $41.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 44.6 | 1.48 | 0.63 | nil |
| 2012 | 82.0 | 2.48 | 0.75 | nil |
| % change | +84 | +67 | +19 | - |
| Includes intangible assets of $76.7m, or 21¢ per share £1=$1.59 | ||||
