There was evidence of a return to underlying revenue growth at media specialist Ebiquity (EBQ), as an improving trend for advertising and marketing budgets translated into an organic sales boost of 3 per cent for the year. Earnings were also boosted by contributions from acquisitions and, with the benefit of tight cost controls, this helped underlying pre-tax profits increase by 26 per cent to £9.5m.
The analytics division, which evaluates the effectiveness of different types of marketing and accounts for over 60 per cent of Ebiquity's revenues, increased underlying sales by 6 per cent to £39.5m. Growth was particularly strong in Germany and Russia. This was in contrast to the performance of the company's platform division, which is a subscriber-based service that measures the impact of brands on consumers. Sales here were slightly lower at £24.5m; the division experienced an all-time high subscriber renewal rates of 93 per cent, but agreeing new contracts is taking longer than expected.
Central costs were tightly controlled to the extent that operating profit margins improved from 15.5 per cent to 16.3 per cent during the year. Chief executive Michael Greenlees said the new financial year has started well and that organic revenues were already tracking ahead.
Broker Numis forecasts current year pre-tax profits of £10.4m for 2014, giving EPS of 9.5p, up from £9.5m and 9p in 2013.
EBIQUITY (EBQ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 97p | MARKET VALUE: | £58.6m | |
| TOUCH: | 95-98p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 98p | LOW: 90p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 69p* | NET DEBT: | 37% | |
| Year to 30 Apr | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 52.9 | 2.64 | 2.29 | nil |
| 2013 | 64.0 | 6.55 | 6.95 | nil |
| % change | +21 | +148 | +203 | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £60.5m, or 100p a share | ||||
