ADVFN Regulatory News (AFN)

30 Mar 2005 07:00

ADVFN PLC30 March 2005 Embargoed for release until 7.00 a.m. Wednesday 30th March 2005 ADVFN PLC ('ADVFN' or 'the Company') Unaudited Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 December 2004 ADVFN, Europe's leading stocks and shares website, today announces maidenprofits in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December2004. Highlights: • A maiden profit of £2.36M (including exceptional profit) (2003: £147K loss) • Exceptional profit of £2.2M on sale of subsidiary • EBITDA up 112% to £638K (2003: £301K) • Operating profit for the first time of £113K (2003: £153K loss) • Earnings per share of 0.56p (including exceptional profit) (2003: 0.04p loss) • Record user numbers up 50% to 450,000 (2003: 300,000) Clement Chambers, Managing Director of ADVFN commented: "We are pleased to announce our interim figures which show a very strongperformance and are delighted to announce a maiden profit. ADVFN has never beenin a stronger position and the figures reflect an ongoing momentum. ADVFN iswell placed for the next phase of expansion and this process is well underway.We firmly believe we can reproduce ADVFN's UK success on a global scale. Whilethis is a significant challenge which will not be achieved overnight, it is onethat is well within our capabilities and one that offers exciting prospects forthe business and our shareholders." For further information, please contact: ADVFNClement Chambers, Managing Director clemc@advfn.comMichael Hodges, Chairman mikeh@advfn.comFrancesca De Franco, PR francescad@advfn.com 020 7070 0932 ADVFN PLC Chairman's Statement As you will have seen from the attached results we have had a good start to theyear, which sees us announcing a maiden profit. . We have continued to expand the ADVFN service and have added more exchangesincluding the Singapore Stock Exchange, the first in a range of Asian marketscoming to the site. This has come as a result of a reengineering of ourinfrastructure which now allows for 24 hour uninterrupted service, crucial formarkets which operate in windows once used for downtime, like Singapore andother Asian markets. This is the first of the Asian exchanges to come online andopens the way for ADVFN to become a leading provider in these exciting markets. Parallel to these plans we are actively looking for acquisitions. We feel thatnow is a good moment to be more active in this area as we have built a strongplatform of audience and technology that acquired companies would benefit from.Late last year, we raised £1.9 million after costs to allow us to accelerate ourgrowth and expansion plans. ADVFN's success has allowed us to explore other areas of business and inNovember we reversed one of our subsidiaries All Ipo Limited into Akaei PLC andformed ALL IPO PLC of which we now own 48.3%, worth approximately £3 million inthe market today. This transaction gave rise to the exceptional profit of £2.2million included within the results. ALL IPO will make available, to privateinvestors, shares of companies that are coming to the market and wishing toraise capital via the Internet. Retail investors will be able to participateon-line in IPOs and other fundraisings by applying for new issues of sharesduring an IPO via a fully on-line process. Investors will be able to viewinvestment opportunities, apply for shares, pay and have their investmentsconfirmed in an end-to-end electronic process. CupidBay (www.cupidbay.com) has continued to move ahead at a relentless pace,which has seen it very rapidly move up the web rankings. CupidBay is still inits early development stage but the site has now surpassed the 200,000registered user level, with members from over 233 countries, and it continues toexpand beyond our expectations. All of the ADVFN team have worked exceptionally hard over the past six monthsand continue to do so and I would like to thank them all for their time andeffort. I would urge all shareholders to take a look at the site at:www.advfn.com, as we believe the tools and data available are invaluable toanyone with an interest in the financial markets. Michael J HodgesChairman29th March 2005 Managing Director's Review Operating Review We achieved operating profits for the first time of £113K, for the six monthperiod to 31st December 2004, compared to a £153K loss for the same period lastyear and a net profit after tax of £2.36M (after including the exceptionalprofit of £2.2M) compared to £147K loss last year. Turnover was up 13% to £1.5Mfrom £1.3M last year. We also recorded our first earnings per share of 0.56p per share (afterincluding the exceptional profit) compared to 0.04p loss last year and ourEBITDA figures displayed the strength in our performance with a 112% increase to£638K from £301K last year as can be seen from the following table:- EBITDA - Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items December December June 2004 2003 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 Profit/ (loss) before tax - peraccounts 2,356 (147) (86) Amortisation 130 130 260Depreciation 400 324 690Exceptional item - Profit on saleof subsidiary (2,239) 0 0Net interest (9) (6) (12) EBITDA 638 301 852 We are pleased that despite aggressively investing in ADVFN's platform and brandwe have managed to achieve a maiden profit and continued strong growth inEBITDA. In addition we have accelerated our programme of introducing new stockmarkets and other data to our site. Since our last results we have expanded ourofferings to include market data from Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Canada,Switzerland and Singapore and also additional data from Archipelago and GTISForex. Our user base has continued to grow and at the end of December 2004 had grown50% to over 450,000 users compared to 300,000 at December of the previous year. Current Trading Since the period end I am pleased to report that our user base has continued toexpand further and our turnover has grown in line with improved marketconditions for both subscription income and advertising revenue. We are actively involved in negotiations for the majority of remaining stockmarkets around the world and expect to bring most of these on-line over the nextyear. Progress in the US has been solid, with subscriptions growing andadvertising income rising with traffic levels. With NASDAQ and NYSE Level 2products now set to come on stream we are hopeful the US business willexperience more accelerated growth. CupidBay continues to expand and in many ways is outstripping its developmentplans. Subscription income and advertising revenue continue to increase atlevels well in excess of our original expectations. The coming year will seeCupidBay continue to build its income by monetising its growing traffic. Prospects ADVFN is moving towards becoming a mature platform and as it does our focus ismoving subtly towards a greater emphasis on marketing and sales. This does notmean we will be reducing our development outlay but we will be increasingly morefocused in growing our revenues by leveraging the product potential of the ADVFNplatform. We see no reason why ADVFN should not be as successful in other global marketsas it is in the UK. We are addressing this vision in our normal way, by closeinteraction with our user base, innovation and close regard to costs. WhileADVFN continues to enjoy its market leading status in the UK, we have no plansto sit back on our laurels. The global potential of ADVFN is the realopportunity and one we are committed to deliver. Clement Chambers Managing Director29th March 2005 ADVFN PLC CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT for the six months ended 31 December 2004 Six months ended Six months ended Year ended 31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June 2004 Unaudited Unaudited Audited £'000 £'000 £'000 Turnover 1,503 1,334 2,951 Cost of sales (87) (60) (128) __________ __________ __________Gross profit 1,416 1,274 2,823 Administrative expenses (1,303) (1,427) (2,969) __________ __________ __________Operating profit / (loss) 113 (153) (146) Share of operating lossesof associate (5) - -Profit on sale ofinvestments - - 48Exceptional item : profiton sale of subsidiary 2,239 - - __________ __________ __________ 2,347 (153) (98) Net interest 9 6 12 __________ __________ __________Profit / (loss) onordinary activitiesbefore taxation 2,356 (147) (86) Tax on profit / (loss) onordinary activities - - 7 __________ __________ __________Profit / (loss) onordinary activities aftertaxation 2,356 (147) (79) __________ __________ __________ Earnings / (loss) perordinary share 0.56p (0.04p) (0.019p) There were no recognised gains or losses other than the result for the financialperiod. ADVFN PLCConsolidated Balance Sheetsat 31 December 2004 31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June 2004 Unaudited Unaudited Audited £'000 £'000 £'000 Fixed AssetsIntangible assets 412 672 541Tangible assets 2,195 1,140 1,412Investments 2,234 - - 4,841 1,812 1,953 Current AssetsDebtors 493 560 544Cash at bank and in hand 2,100 430 530 2,593 990 1,074 Creditors: amountsfalling due within oneyear (712) (527) (667) Net current assets 1,881 463 407 Total assets lesscurrent liabilities 6,722 2,275 2,360 Capital and ReservesCalled up share capital 4,609 4,059 4,070Share premium account 5,400 3,926 3,933Profit and loss account (3,287) (5,710) (5,643) Shareholders' funds -equity 6,722 2,275 2,360 ADVFN PLCConsolidated Cash Flow Statementsfor the six months ended 31 December 2004 Six months Six months Year ended ended ended 31 December 31 December 30 June 2004 2003 2004 Unaudited Unaudited Audited £'000 £'000 £'000 Net cash inflowfrom operatingactivities 717 209 706 ----------- ----------- ----------- Returns on investment and servicing offinanceInterest received 10 7 13Interest paid (1) (1) (1) ----------- ----------- ----------- 9 6 12 ----------- ----------- ----------- Taxation - 204 311 Capital expenditurePayments toacquire tangiblefixed assets (1,152) (610) (1,248)Proceeds fromdisposal of fixedasset investments - - 110 ----------- ----------- ----------- (1,152) (610) (1,138) ----------- ----------- ----------- Net cash outflowbefore financing (426) (191) (109) FinancingIssue of ordinaryshare capital 2,117 - 18Share issue costs (121) - - ----------- ----------- -----------Net cash inflowfrom financing 1,996 - 18 ----------- ----------- ----------- Increase /(decrease) incash 1,570 (191) (91) =========== =========== =========== ADVFN PLCNotes to the interim statementfor the six months ended 31 December 2004 1. Earnings / (loss) per ordinary share Six months ended Six months ended Year ended 31 December 2004 31 December 2003 30 June 2004 Profit / (loss) forthe period £'000 2,356 (147) (79) Weighted averagenumber of shares '000 418,652 405,900 406,304 Earnings / (loss)per share P 0.56p (0.04p) (0.019p) 2. The directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend. 3. The financial information contained in this document does not constitutestatutory accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985.The financial information for the year ended 30 June 2004 is extracted from theaudited financial statements for that period on which the auditors gave anunqualified report. A copy of those financial statements has been filed with theRegistrar of Companies. 4. Copies of this statement are being posted to shareholders shortly and will beavailable from the company's registered office at 642a Lea Bridge Road, Leyton,London, E10 6AP. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange