Velocity Comp Regulatory News (VEL)

14 Jan 2008 07:01

Velti PLC14 January 2008 For Immediate Release Monday, 14 January 2008 Velti plc Trading Update LONDON - Velti plc ("Velti" or "the Company"), a provider of software platforms,applications and services for advertising agencies, mobile operators and mediagroups, announces that it has achieved strong growth for the year ended 31December 2007. The Company expects to report revenue in excess of €19 m (anincrease of more than 75 per cent over 2006) and profit before tax for the yearin line with market expectations after providing for the early-stageinfrastructure and business development costs of the Ansible joint venture. David Mann, Non-Executive Chairman commented: "This excellent performancedemonstrates that Velti is successfully responding to the accelerated demand formobile marketing and advertising, by both strengthening relationships withexisting customers and expanding operations in new geographies. With its strongprofitability and balance sheet, we expect Velti to continue its rapidprofitable expansion and become one of the global leaders in the area of mobilemarketing and advertising". Alexandros Moukas, Chief Executive Officer added: "We are experiencing strongdemand for our services across all our target markets. Velti MMP is being usedsuccessfully by several of the world's largest mobile operators and brands,while Ansible, our joint venture with Interpublic Group, is alreadydemonstrating strong traction in the marketplace. For 2008, we expect to seefurther increased demand for our offerings in mobile marketing and in mobilecommunities." In the last twelve months there has been significant growth in the market formobile marketing and advertising. As a result, Velti has experienced accelerateddemand for mobile marketing and advertising applications and services, withincreased new business across all client categories. Significant business wins include the implementation of innovative mobilemarketing campaigns for major brands such as Johnson & Johnson, General Motors,Microsoft, Verizon, Associated Press, LVMH's Hennessy, Pepsico,Colgate-Palmolive, Ferrero, Bacardi, MTV, CBS, Vogue Magazine and Mastercard, aswell as the launch of brand loyalty and mobile community applications foroperators like Sing Tel's Globe Telecom, Austria telecom's M-Tel and CosmofonAnother major driver during the past year has been the growth in repeat businessfrom major mobile network operators in Europe (Orange, Vodafone, Wind, Cosmoteand Q-Telecom), establishing Velti as a leader in the area of mobile marketingand advertising. In July 2007, Velti and Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world's leadingadvertising agencies and marketing services groups, announced the launch ofAnsible, their joint venture which has formed a dedicated mobile marketingagency. Ansible operates in North America and Europe, with plans to openfull-service offices in Asia, and is using Velti's Mobile Marketing Platform tooffer mobile strategy, creative development and campaign management, leveragingbest-in-class technology and expertise. Ansible has made excellent progresssince its commercial launch in September 2007, having signed-up 5 Fortune-50customers for mobile campaigns in North America, Europe and Asia. During 2007, Velti expanded its operations in Asia with a number of new projectswhich included a mobile marketing campaign in the Philippines on behalf of SingTel's Globe Telecom, Asia's leading communications group with more than 136million subscribers in the region. Velti has deployed its Mobile MarketingPlatform as part of an interactive mobile marketing campaign which was designedto increase Globe Telecom's customer loyalty and included a content-orientedmobile community. The campaign proved very successful, generating more than 24million interactions with mobile consumers. In the past year, Velti created a number of similar brand loyalty buildingcampaigns for major operators in Europe. Orange UK, the leading UK mobileoperator, has partnered with Velti to launch an online and mobile musiccommunity which offers a priority mobile ticketing notification and purchasingservice. The service is aimed at engaging and developing a direct andinteractive relationship between Orange and its customers, allowing users toreceive notifications regarding their favourite artists' concerts and reservetickets via their mobiles. In addition, Velti has partnered with AustriaTelecom's MTEL and Cosmote's Cosmofon to create innovative brand loyaltycampaigns with very successful results. In the field of innovation and product development, Velti announced the launchof version 3.5 of its Mobile Marketing Platform (Velti MMP), used for planning,creating, managing and monitoring mobile marketing and advertising campaigns.The platform incorporates more than 60 embedded best-in-class solutions thatmodel mobile advertising and mobile marketing campaigns. Velti MMP enables thedesign and launch of campaigns in minutes rather than weeks with significantcost savings. The deployment of the MMP is allowing Velti to evolve its businessmodel from being a traditional software provider to operating as a one-stop-shopfor mobile marketing and advertising. Recognising Velti's cutting edge mobiletechnology and its ability to harness the power of mobility to meet businessobjectives, the Mobile Marketing Association recently named Velti's MMP afinalist for its Global MMA Awards in the category "Innovation for Creativity inTechnology". In the year ended 31 December 2007, Velti generated positive cash flows fromoperating activities. The achievement of positive cash flows after investmentactivities remains a short-term objective. In October 2007, Velti raised £7.5million before expenses via a placing to institutional investors strengtheningfurther its balance sheet position. The funds were raised to finance thedevelopment of Ansible, the working capital needs stemming from the rapid growthin its business with mobile operators in mobile marketing and advertising andthe enhancement of its product development and operating infrastructure. A full announcement of results for the year ended 31 December 2007 is expectedto be made in the second half of March 2008. END CONTACTS Velti:Alexandros Moukas, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0) 20 7633 5000Pantelis Papageorgiou, Director of Finance Bankside: +44 (0) 20 7367 8888Simon Bloomfield or Steve Liebmann RBC Capital Markets: +44 (0) 207 653 4667Sarah Wharry This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange