20 Sep 2012 07:00
20 September 2012
Phorm Corporation Limited ("Phorm" or the "Company")
Update on Turkey and Phorm China Equity Fundraise
Phorm (AIM: PHRM), the internet personalisation technology company, is pleased to announce the following operational progress update on its commercial deployment in Turkey.
·; Currently 3.9m monthly unique users opted in (end of August 3.3m)
·; Excellent publisher traction with greater than 70% monthly reach already
achieved
·; Initial advertising campaigns showing significant improvement in performance
compared to current advertising
·; Initial advertisers now rebooking and providing budgets for 2013
In order to generate significant revenues in Turkey three stages have to be completed:
1. Deployment of user base
By the end of August 3.3m monthly unique users had opted in, a number that is still growing and currently stands at 3.9m. Opt in rates achieved, as per our announcement on 2 August, were high and consistent with those experienced on other deployments.
2. Partnerships with websites
In order to be able to show advertising and generate revenue for both ourselves and our partners, we need to be able to access ad slots owned by websites in Turkey through a personalised content and advertising partnership.
We are very pleased to be able to report that we are now working with websites and publisher networks representing 4.7bn monthly ad impressions.
Advertising requests from publishers for our opted in users are now being received at a rate of more than 130 million per month and we expect this number to rise substantially over the next few months.
3. Advertiser participation
Finally, in order to be able to show advertisements to active users through ad slots made available by publisher partners, we need to secure advertising campaigns.
We are currently working with advertisers representing some of the leading brands in Turkey and the rest of the world. We also expect the number of advertisers we are working with to rise significantly over the coming months, as our user base and publisher website partnerships grow. In addition to advertisers currently in the system, we are already seeing a substantial pipeline of campaigns to be enabled in the near future and have already seen advertisers agree to renew their campaigns on an annual basis for the coming year.
Participation by advertisers and websites is driven by an ever greater understanding of the benefits which our system offers to both.
Campaign performance has been very good with targeted campaigns delivering on average more than 3 times the click through rates of current advertising performance.
We expect that uplift in performance to grow substantially as our user base, website partnership, number and granularity of campaigns combine over the coming months to generate sufficient revenue to make our Turkish operation profitable. In addition, our experience in the market so far confirms our expectation that the Turkish market alone will be able to make the group profitable.
Phorm China Equity Fund Raise
On 1 June 2012 the Company announced that it has entered into agreements with Chinese City Investments Limited ("CCIL") to raise £20m via a subscription for a 20% equity stake into its operating subsidiary for Hong Kong and the Peoples Republic of China ("Phorm China").
Due to problems unrelated to Phorm with one of the parties involved in the transaction, there will be a delay in completing the funding and we are unable at this time to provide definitive timelines. We continue to enjoy strong support from the key parties involved and are seeing strong commercial interest in deploying Phorm's technology in China.
Kent Ertugrul, CEO of Phorm, commented, "We are extremely pleased with the progress made in such a short space of time in the Turkish market. We look to forward to providing continued updates on this progress going forward.
In respect to China, we are working hard to complete the transaction particularly in light of strong operational progress on the ground."
For Enquiries
Phorm, Inc.
Mark Williams (analysts & investors) +44 20 7297 2326
Alex Laity (media) +44 20 7297 2710
Liberum Capital +44 20 3100 2222
(Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)
Chris Bowman
Richard Bootle
Mirabaud Securities LLP +44 20 7321 2508
(Joint Broker)
Jason Woollard
Peter Krens
Hudson Sandler +44 20 7796 4133
Charlie Jack
Charlie Barker
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About Phorm
Phorm is a global personalisation technology company that makes content and advertising more relevant to the consumer. Phorm's innovative platform preserves user privacy and delivers a more interesting online experience.
Phorm's partners include leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Publishers, Ad Networks and Advertisers.
Phorm, under the predecessor holding company of the group Phorm Inc., was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2007 and has over 140 employees and contractors.
For more information, please visit: www.phorm.com