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LONDON (Alliance News) - SpaceandPeople PLC said Monday it sunk to a loss in 2018 as revenue slipped, leading to a reduced dividend payout.
Shares in SpaceandPeople were down 23% Monday morning at 11.15 pence each.
In 2018, SpaceandPeople - which markets and sells retail licencing space - reported a pretax loss of GBP415,000 from a profit of GBP1.2 million in 2017. The company's revenue decreased 21% to GBP7.9 million from GBP10.0 million.
SpaceandPeople proposed a dividend of 0.5 pence per share in 2018, just a third of the 1.5p paid out in 2017.
SpaceandPeople's average number of retail merchandising units decreased 15% to 158 from 185 the year before. The average number of mobile promotions kiosks decreased 20% to 60 from 75 in 2017.
"2018 demonstrated that when tactical advertising budgets are withheld from a service business whose main overhead is staffing costs, the results fall straight to the bottom line,"said Chief Executive Matthew Bending.
The company attributed its "poor performance" on a number of issues including the bad weather suffered in the first quarter. SpaceandPeople said the 'Beast from the East' storm hurt UK retail sales for two months despite lasting only three days.
The good weather in the second and third quarter meant brands sought outdoor locations, which SpaceandPeople said it "could not source at such short notice".
SpaceandPeople also blamed the World Cup with the "country tuning in to football to the exclusion of much else".
In 2018 the company increased investment in its service and staff, which was, SpaceandPeople said, "aimed at expansion" but coincided with a decrease in sales.
Ultimately, SpaceandPeople's presence in venues decreased in 2018 on the "tough retail backdrop" leading to ownership changes in many shopping centres.
Bending added: "Sales did not match forecasts and we could not cut costs quickly enough to counteract the situation to any appreciable degree. We had anticipated a continuation of 2017's success but this did not occur for the reasons explained above."
Going forward, the company's UK unit will focus on gaining regulatory certifications in order to "demonstrate to all stakeholders that proper operating systems are followed and that we comply with best practice in relation to our environmental impact and health and safety procedures".
SpaceandPeople's trading in the first three months of 2019 is in line with management expectations and ahead of the comparable period in 2018.
