Aferian Regulatory News (AFRN)

8 December 2022

AFERIAN PLC

("Aferian", the "Company" or the "Group")

Trading Update

- Strong YoY Exit Annual Recurring Revenue growth of 15% -

Aferian plc (LSE AIM: AFRN), the B2B video streaming solutions company, today provides a trading update for the year ended 30 November 2022.

The Group confirms that Group trading has finished the year in line with the Board's expectations and anticipates announcing full year results consistent with the guidance ranges communicated on 24 October 2022.

Donald McGarva, Chief Executive Officer of Aferian plc, said: "Aferian will deliver full year numbers in line with our recently stated guidance. We have continued to make progress this year to evolve Aferian into a leading video streaming solutions company to both serve and shape our growing market. Our results demonstrate that we continue to execute on improving our software and annualised recurring revenue growth and we look forward to providing more detail at the time of our full year results."

For the year ended 30 November 2022 the Group expects to report adjusted operating profit1 within the $7.8m-$8.8m guidance range.

Driven primarily by its 24i business (which focusses on streaming video experiences), the Group has continued to make strong progress in improving its quality of earnings and enhancing revenue visibility. Exit run rate Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR") is expected to be approximately $17.5m (FY21: $15.2m), up 15% versus the prior year, or 23% on a constant currency basis. Higher margin software and services revenue is expected to be approximately $24m (FY21: $22.4m), an increase of 7%, or 15% on a constant currency basis.

Device revenues in our Amino business (which connects Pay TV to streaming services) are expected to be approximately $67m (FY21: 70.5m), a decrease of 5% year-on year. This is due to the desire of some customers to reduce their working capital, particularly in the USA. As previously announced, this trend is expected to continue into the first half of FY23 as some customer inventory levels remain high having been bolstered to mitigate for earlier supply chain disruptions.

Consequently, total revenue is expected to be approximately $91m, representing a c2% decrease on the prior year ("FY21").

Net cash at 30 November 2022 is expected to be slightly ahead of expectations at $4m, following better than expected cash collection from customers.

Notes:

All numbers reported are unaudited.

1Adjusted operating profit is a non-GAAP measure and excludes amortization of acquired intangible assets, exceptional items and share-based payment charges.

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About Aferian plc 

Aferian plc (AIM: AFRN) is a B2B video streaming solutions company. Our end-to-end solutions bring live and on-demand video to every kind of screen. We create the forward-thinking solutions that our customers need to drive subscriber engagement, audience satisfaction, and revenue growth.

It is our belief that successful media companies and services will be those that are most consumer-centric, data driven and flexible to change. We focus on innovating technologies that enable our customers to stay ahead of evolving viewer demand by providing smarter, more cost-effective ways of delivering end-to-end modern TV and video experiences to consumers. By anticipating technological and behavioural audience trends, our software solutions empower our customers to heighten viewer enjoyment, drive growth in audience share and ultimately their profitability.

Aferian plc has two operating companies: 24i, which focusses on streaming video experiences, and Amino, which connects Pay TV to streaming services. Our two complementary companies combine their products and services to create solutions which ensure that people can consume TV and video how and when they want it. Our solutions deliver modern TV and video experiences every day to millions of viewers globally, via our growing global customer base of over 500 service providers.

Aferian plc is traded on the London Stock Exchange's AIM stock market (AIM: symbol AFRN). Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the Company has over 350 staff located in 11 offices, including in such major European cities as Amsterdam, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Brno, as well as in San Francisco and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.aferian.com.