Last checked at 12 Jan 2023 07:00
12 January 2023
Digitalbox plc
("Digitalbox" or the "Company")
FY2022 Trading Update and Notice of Results
Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Tab and The Poke, is pleased to provide the following trading update ahead of the publication of its results for the twelve months to 31 December 2022. The Company expects to announce its results on 28 March 2023.
Despite the challenging conditions across the entire media industry in Q4 2022 - traditionally the Company's most important trading period - management action ensured the Company continued to deliver very strong margins. As a result, Digitalbox expects EBITDA* for the year ended 31 December 2022 to be comfortably ahead of the £1m delivered in 2021 and broadly in line with the most recent market guidance, despite the economic headwinds resulting in revenue below market expectations. As at 31 December 2022, the Company had more than £2.8m in gross cash.
James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said: "The end of 2022 was both an exciting and turbulent period. We continued to deliver on our strategy by acquiring The Poke and took on the challenge of maximising profitability within a tightening economy. Our agile approach to operating the business meant that we were pleased to grow our margins and our EBITDA year on year.
"The Poke provides a major opportunity for expansion in future years. After a pleasing start to life at Digitalbox, The Poke will quickly benefit from being brought onto our Graphene platform as we move into 2023. We are also finalising the acquisition of the assets of TVGuide.co.uk, which we expect to be complete in the next few months. We are conscious of the difficult economic conditions, yet we are confident that our high-quality, popular brands will remain strong and quickly benefit as economic conditions improve."
*All EBITDA figures quoted are for Adjusted EBITDA, defined as the profit from operations after deducting depreciation, amortisation, share-based payments, acquisition and listing costs, direct costs associated with business combinations and capital restructure costs.
END
Market abuse regulation: This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").
Enquiries:
Digitalbox | c/o SEC Newgate |
James Carter, CEO
| |
Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser, Financial Adviser & Joint Broker) | Tel: 020 7886 2500 |
Alina Vaskina / James Sinclair-Ford (Corporate Advisory) | |
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)
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Leander Capital Partners (Joint Broker) | Tel: 07786150915 |
Alex Davies
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SEC Newgate (Financial Communications) | Tel: 020 3757 6880 |
Robin Tozer / Molly Gretton / Harry Handyside | digitalbox@secnewgate.co.uk |
About Digitalbox plc
Based in Bath, UK, Digitalbox is a 'pure-play' digital media business with the aim of profitable publishing at scale on mobile platforms.
Digitalbox operates the following trading brands, "Entertainment Daily", "The Daily Mash", "The Tab", and "The Poke". Entertainment Daily produces and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity news. The Daily Mash produces and publishes satirical news content. The Tab is the UK's biggest youth culture site fuelled by students. The Poke expertly curates and editorialises the funniest content from around the web and social media.
Digitalbox generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and around the content it publishes. The Group's optimisation for mobile enables it to achieve revenues per session significantly ahead of market norms for publishers on mobile.