BONH.L Regulatory News (BONH)

10 Jun 2009 07:00



Vitesse Media plc

Preliminary Results 2009

Vitesse Media plc (AIM: VIS), the publishing, events and online company,

today announced its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 January 2009.

Financial Highlights:

Revenues up 1% to £5.0 million (2008 : £4.9 million); online revenues up 22.5%; event revenues down 2.5%; print revenues (advertising and subscriptions) down 7% 

Online revenues now make up 27% of total revenues (2008: 22%)

A full year of results from Information Age were incorporated into the figures for 2008/9, compared to 3 months in 2007/8

Improved performance in second half year. Before share options expense and lease expense related to the closure of the Birmingham office, the loss was reduced to £0.15m for the six months to 31 January 2009, compared to a loss of £0.25 million for the first half of the year, to 31 July 2008. 

For the period from 1 September to 31 January, the business traded at breakeven, despite the extremely challenging environment created by the global financial crisis

Considerable restructuring during 2008 has lead to a more streamlined product range, lower direct costs and lower overheads

Operational Highlights:

Information Age is now well-integrated within the Vitesse Media team and, from the middle of the financial year, started to make consistent contributions to overheads

In December, we closed down our office in Birmingham and relocated M & A to our London office. From June 2009, M & A will be placed within Business XL. 

We held the second M & A Awards in February 2008, transferring it successfully to a larger venue, the Hilton Park Lane. For 2009 and beyond, this event will be held in May, thus enabling us to smooth our event activity; our target is to hold one major profitable event in every month of the year, bar August and December, plus a number of more targeted and smaller events.

The Rosenblatt New Energy Awards were launched successfully in February 2008 and were held at the Natural History Museum for 2009, providing a memorable night for all who attended

There were several redesigns and re-launches during the year under consideration. These included SmallBusiness.co.uk, GrowthBusiness.co.uk and Information-Age.com websites, and What Investment and M & A magazines.

We have built many of our titles either to market leading positions or as a challenger to market leaders. Our brands remain very strong with a reputation for very high quality content and design.

Trading update for the first quarter 2009/10

We started the financial year with a reduction in overhead costs of over one-third compared to the start of the last financial year and have made further cost savings in the year 2009/10, which should reduce overheads in total by £1.5 million since February 2008

Trading remains difficult, with print advertising the most affected area. Online advertising is showing an increase on the same period last year. 

Events are more challenging with slower sales of tables. However, we are encouraged by the high level of renewals for event sponsorships for all our awards events, in particular the awards events for the period from January to March 2010.

The group continues to be conservatively financed; the average overdraft since the start of the financial year is under £40k.

The year ahead

The trading environment continues to be challenging, as many trading statements from other media businesses affirm. The environment has shown a further downturn in the first quarter. However, we have started the year financially much fitter than twelve months earlier, having extensively restructured the business during the year and we have carried out further cost savings in the first quarter. We are now a much tighter business, located in one office, with very strict cost control and a range of very supportive customers. 

Trading remains strong for our online sites and for the Information Age brand as a whole. However, display advertising in What Investment remains at a lower level and we expect the difficulties faced by the car industry to have an adverse impact on advertising in Business XL, which last year had stood up very well against the trend, delivering an increase in revenues. Activities and publications centered on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) will also be trading at a lower level.

Since the start of this financial year we have been encouraged by the resilience of our events. The Rosenblatt New Energy Awards, showed a 20% increase in attendance, and we launched the Cannacord-Adams Media Magnate Awards in March. To date, renewals for sponsorships at next January's Quoted Company Awards and also for the 2010 Rosenblatt New Energy Awards are going well, with already 50% of the revenues management expect for those events already booked in.

We remain optimistic that once the economic cycle bottoms and begins to turn up that this business will prove to have a strong economic model and will make a satisfactory return for shareholders.

ESM Williams

Chairman and Chief Executive

Enquiries:

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

For the period ended 31 January 2009

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

At 31 January 2009

Statements of changes in equity ATTRIBUTABLE TO EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS OF THE PARENT

NOTES

For the year ended 31 January 2009

The financial information contained in this document does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 240 Companies Act 1985. The figures for the year ended 31 January 2009 have been extracted from the annual accounts in respect of which the auditors have not yet signed their audit

report. The audited statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2008 have been extracted from the audited statutory accounts for that year which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies and received an unqualified auditors' report which did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or (3) Companies Act 1985.

EARNINGS PER SHARE

(a) Basic

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to equity holders of the company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year, excluding ordinary shares purchased by the company and held as treasury shares (Note 16).

(b) Diluted

Diluted earnings per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. The company has one category of dilutive potential ordinary shares: share options. The company has made a loss and the potential share options are therefore anti-dilutive.

CALLED UP SHARE CAPITAL

Shares issued during the year were for a cash injection for brand development and additional working capital. Shares issued during the prior period were to raise additional financing for the acquisition of Information Age Media Ltd.

This preliminary announcement was approved by the Board on 9 June 2009.

Copies of this announcement are available at the office of the company's nominated adviser Seymour Pierce Limited at the address below and also at vitessemedia.co.uk.

Seymour Pierce Limited, 20 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EN