Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Brave Bison Group PLC on Wednesday said half-year revenue increased, but swung to a pretax loss when accounting for acquisition costs and other expenses.
The London-based social and digital media company, which provides advertising and technology services, swung to a statutory pretax loss of GBP244,000 from a GBP1.0 million profit the year before. However, the firm said adjusted pretax profit increased 14% to GBP2.5 million from GBP1.3 million.
Brave Bison said its adjusted profit excluded GBP810,000 in acquisition costs and GBP626,000 in restructuring costs, as well as amortisation, impairment and share-based payments. The acquisition costs related to fees associated with Brave Bison's purchase of Manchester-based marketing agency Social Chain Ltd in February.
"The core Brave Bison business has performed in-line with our expectations," Executive Chair Oliver Green commented, "and the turnaround of Social Chain is showing encouraging progress with a number of recent customer wins including national brands such as Asda, The Army and Holland & Barrett."
Revenue increased 15% in the half year to GBP16.9 million from GBP14.7 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by 20% to GBP1.9 million from GBP1.6 million, while Brave Bison's cash balance at June 30 was GBP4.5 million, down 17% from GBP5.4 million at the same time one year prior.
Cost of sales increased 4.5% to GBP6.9 million, and administration expenses increased 44% to GBP10.2 million.
Looking ahead, Brave Bison expects its full-year results to be in line with its expectations. This includes net cash of over GBP6 million at the end of the year. It added that trading in the current half year is "showing a meaningful improvement...driven by the positive impact from the Social Chain acquisition and integration".
Executive Chair Oliver Green said he was "pleased to report a period of stable profitability despite a difficult macroeconomic backdrop."
Brave Bison shares were down 4.1% at 2.33 pence in London on Wednesday afternoon.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
