AVIDLY PLC HALF-YEAR REPORT 1 JANUARY - 30 JUNE 2020: Revenue increased by 10.0% to EUR 13 million and EBITDA improved by 23.8% to EUR 0.5 million

AVIDLY PLC HALF-YEAR REPORT 1 JANUARY - 30 JUNE 2020: Revenue increased by 10.0% to EUR 13 million and EBITDA improved by 23.8% to EUR 0.5 million

Avidly Plc, Half-year report (unaudited), 25 August 2020 at 8:30 EET

This company announcement is a summary of Avidly’s half-year report for January–June 2020. The complete Release is attached to this announcement as a pdf file. It is also available on the company website at https://investors.avidlyagency.com/en/company-news.

In H1, the main focus of Avidly’s operations was on strengthening the foundation of its business and improving its financial position, as well as on enabling international growth. The coronavirus pandemic slowed demand for Marketing Services during the worst coronavirus months of the spring, but Inbound Services grew well throughout the review period.

January–June 2020

• Revenue was EUR 12,963 thousand (11,781), an increase of 10.0%.¹
• Gross profit was EUR 9,326 thousand (9,415), a decrease of -0.9%. Continuous services amounted to approximately 43% (33%) of gross profit.
• EBITDA was EUR 530 thousand (428), an increase of 23.8%.
• The Group’s operating profit (EBIT) was EUR -403 thousand (-299), i.e. -3.1% of revenue (-2.5%). EBIT includes a total expense of approximately EUR 100 thousand, half of which relates to the cooperation negotiations that ended in March and half to the rights issue that ended in June (in the comparison period, the costs of co-operation negotiations amounted to EUR 98 thousand).
• Operating profit of Marketing Services was EUR -455 thousand (116), including a cost of EUR 50 thousand related to employee co-operation negotiations concluded in March (98 thousand in the comparison period).
• Operating profit of Inbound Services was EUR 42 thousand (-415). The comparison figure includes EUR 66 thousand of acquisition costs.
• Profit for the period was EUR -465 thousand (-428), i.e. -3.6% of revenue (-3.6%).
• Earnings per share was EUR -0.17 (-0.18).
• In March, Avidly Plc conducted co-operation negotiations to streamline operations and in May–June a rights issue of EUR 2.5 million to strengthen the company’s equity. In addition, Avidly agreed in June on a EUR 2.5 million long-term financing arrangement to strengthen the company’s liquidity and to support its growth.

Outlook for 2020

Due to the uncertain state of the world economy, the predictability in Avidly’s business has decreased. Avidly will thus not provide an estimate on revenue and operating result for 2020. We closely monitor the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on our customers’ businesses and on our own demand outlook and will adjust our operations as necessary.

CEO Jesse Maula:

Avidly’s H1 revenue increased by 10% to 13 million euros. In Inbound Services, revenue increased by 43% driven by both the Netpress acquisition in 2019 and organic growth. Marketing Services revenue was at the level of the comparison period, as the coronavirus pandemic slowed demand during the worst corona months in the spring. Avidly’s comprehensive service offering, broad customer base and strong digital expertise proved to be a strength as demand weakened as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Our EBITDA increased from the comparison period and was EUR 0.5 million. The operating result showed a loss of EUR 0.4 million, but our profitability improved towards the end of the review period. I am pleased that we have managed to improve the direction of our financial performance for the better, but we still have a lot to do in reaching the desired level of profitability.

Thanks to the cooperation negotiations that ended in March, the rights issue in June and the long-term financing arrangement signed in June, our business is now on a much more stable financial base than at the beginning of the year. During the first half of the year we have renewed our thinking and streamlined our operating methods, among other things by creating a new team structure in the Helsinki and Turku offices. I am proud of the resilience and flexibility our people have shown in driving forward our internal development projects and especially in serving our customers amidst the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Many thanks also go to our customers who have boldly continued to invest in and who quickly adopted agile remote work practices after the pandemic spread to our operating countries. Together with our customers, we have been able to find digital operating models that have enabled us to operate in a challenging market.

In early 2020, we started a strategy update project that will crystallise what we want to be in the future, how Avidly should be positioned in the market and how the Avidly brand will look and feel in the future. This project has progressed well and we will publish more information on the results of this project during autumn.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Avidly will publish its financial statements for the year 2020 on Thursday 4 March 2021. Annual Report 2020, which will include the Board of Directors' Report and Financial Statements for 2020, will be published on Thursday 11 March 2021.

In Helsinki,  25 August 2020

AVIDLY OYJ

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Additional information:

Jesse Maula, CEO, Tel. +358 40 548 0248

Hans Parvikoski, CFO, Tel. +358 40 586 6154

Oaklins Merasco Oy acts as Avidly Plc’s Certified Advisor, tel. +358 9 6129 670

Avidly is Finland’s leading marketing and communications service provider and a leading marketing automation company in the Nordics, listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth marketplace in Helsinki. We create an atmosphere for growth to take our customers forward. We are a team of more than 230 navigators and explorers, makers and shakers in 16 locations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. Read more: investors.avidlyagency.com/en

¹

 Unless otherwise stated, comparisons and figures in parentheses refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period last year.