Blur Group Share Discussion Threads

[j777j] 09/9/2014 08:05

A world class company in the making.

New Cfo and non exec Chairman announcements appear imminent


Operational gearing starting to kick in.

[stuart37] 09/9/2014 07:41

Results look promising.............

[j777j] 09/9/2014 07:41

Well done blur,the direction of travel is looking very encouraging.






London, September 9(th) , 2014

blur Group plc

("blur Group", the "Group" or the "Company")

Unaudited Interim Results

blur Group, the s-commerce company, announces its unaudited interim results for 6 months ended 30 June 2014.

Philip Letts, blur Group Plc CEO, introduces the interim results:

"I am pleased to present these interim results. They show a business that is growing and maturing in all aspects: technology, financial, governance, sales and management. In a year, we have quadrupled our revenue, trebled our bookings, completed a successful fundraising, kept our costs and headcount controls in line with our plan, and grown customer success through a 170% value increase from repeat customers. "

Summary Results

H1 2014 H1 2013 FY 2013 H1 2014 on
H1 2013 Growth
Unaudited Unaudited (restated) Audited
$'000s $'000s $000s
Bookings 16,040 5,238 22,200 +206%
Revenue 5,695 1,412 4,779 +303%
Gross profit 1,515 417 1,164 +263%
EBITDA* (3,995) (2,018) (5,738) +98%
Cash balance 24,432 13,123 9,561


*before provision for share based payments

H1 2014 Highlights
-- Strong Revenue Growth under conservative Revenue Recognition policies

303% increase in revenue growth over H1 2013 under revised Revenue Recognition policies (detailed later in this statement). The revision has led to H1 2013 revenues being re-stated (H1 2014 represents a 19% increase on FY 2013 revenue)
-- Repeat Bookings & Project Value Growth demonstrates continued growth in Exchange usage

Total value of bookings in H1 2014 of $16.04m (H1 2013: $5.2m), partly driven by 170% increase in the value of projects from repeat customers in the period versus H1 2013.
-- Operational Leverage emerging

Business growing strongly with same employee numbers as at end of 2013 (78 FTEs) reflecting the efficiency gains from the new blur 4.0 platform and associated business processes.
-- Increase in Enterprise customers

New Enterprise customers (over $500m turnover): Regus, Danone, Solvay, Amazon, Sabre and Menard.
-- International Customer Expansion

USA and UK lead in number of H1 2014 projects. Projects started from 15 other countries.
-- Gross Profit of $1.5m, 27% of Revenue

The business model continues to generate predictable and consistent gross profit. The H1 2014 figures of $1.5m represents 27% of revenue.
-- Successful $21m Fundraising

$21m fundraise (net proceeds after costs) in June which funds blur through to profit.
-- New Technology Platform, blur 4.0, Launched

New 'mobile first' platform launched to improve the transactional efficiency of the Exchange.

Philip Letts comments further:

"The services market shows continuing and increasing acceptance of s-commerce, offering as it does, great advantages for both buyer and supplier of speed, simplicity and security.

The moves we have made to locate our Global HQ in Exeter are paying off, with a stable team who, along with our experienced C-Suite, are delivering our planned operational leverage so we can scale without adding significant cost. We continue to grow internationally, especially in the US, and are attracting larger business customers ahead of plan.

I am confident that we have in place all the elements required to manage our current and future growth and return value to our supportive shareholders. "

Trading Update
-- Projects submitted continue to rise

6,096 total projects submitted as of 8 Sept 2014 (19 Sept 2013 2,675) with a combined value of over $285m (19 Sept 2013 $48m).
-- Enterprise customers continue to adopt s-commerce

Two new major high street brand names are using the exchange with projects to date worth a total of $100K.

For further information, please contact:
blur Group plc: Barbara Spurrier Tel: [phone] investors.blurgroup.com
N+1 Singer: Shaun Dobson / Jen Boorer Tel: [phone]
Yellow Jersey: Philip Ranger/Anna Legge Tel: [phone]

About blur (Group) plc at blurgroup.com

blur Group is a technology company with a simple goal to make s-commerce(1) a reality for every business. It is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (BLUR). It is headquartered in the UK, with offices in the US and Europe.

blur's s-commerce(1) platform, the Global Services Exchange, streamlines and automates the buying, delivery and payment of services. As of September 2014, over 50,000 businesses in 145 countries have used this platform to change the way they work, submitting over 6,000 projects with a combined value of $285m. Customers include Amazon, Danone, Broadridge, Coral, Momentive, the Financial Times, Berlitz, Butlins, GE Healthcare and Tyco

____________

(1) s-commerce refers to the buying and selling of business services using an online platform

H1 2014 Business Overview

blur's business model: an explanation

blur has a simple business model. The customer 'submits' their project online and, if they are a new customer, opens an account setting out details to start a contractual relationship with blur.

Following a process of honing the brief, collaborating with the customer on blur's platform using our online 'Project Space', the customer then agrees to the project being 'listed' on the Exchange. At this stage, the customer is committed to pay a fee of 10% of their stated budget for the project on the Exchange.

Upon listing, the brief is broadcast to blur's 'Expert Community' who can pitch for the project, confident in the knowledge that the project is both real and live. blur manages this pitch process and presents back to the customer a shortlist of the top pitches that best fit the brief. The customer chooses the best pitch for them and following final agreement on a 'Statement of Work', the project begins.

When the statement of work is agreed, the first invoice is raised for at least 10% of the project value and payments are made against this initial invoice and through the life of the project when agreed milestones are met. blur then pays the expert.

How blur engages customers

blur's customer engagement strategy is about acquiring and retaining customers, ensuring they exceed their objectives and experience success with every s-commerce transaction, so they become brand advocates with the strategic recognition that the Exchange has a positive effect on them and their business in specific and cumulative terms.

blur customers typically seek a cost effective solution to a tricky business problem. If that problem is solved by blur simply, quickly and easily - a successful experience - the customer, often a functional manager in a mid-sized business, will have clear business logic to use the Exchange again. Eventually, based on multiple successful experiences, the individual will likely end up as a champion for s-commerce and an advocate for blur's brand, both within their business and beyond.

H1 2014 Operational Review

The business has performed to expectations with several significant milestones reached during H1 2014:

Strong revenue growth under conservative Revenue Recognition policies

blur Group has seen a 303% increase in revenue H1 2014 vs H1 2013 on a like for like basis following the change to conservative Revenue Recognition policies that were implemented in April 2014. This period of strong growth reflects the continued global adoption of blur Group's business model. The successful release of blur 4.0 platform, with its mobile first design approach, the roll out of public pages and the drive into the Enterprise space are all contributing factors to the significant growth in revenue.

Total bookings for H1 increased by 206% at $16.04m (H1 2013: $5.2m) with enterprise adoption accelerating

The 206% increase in bookings reflects a number of key factors:

-- Increase in the number of Enterprise customers (defined as organisations with turnover >$500m) adopting blur's platform including companies such as Regus, Danone, Solvay, Amazon, Sabre and Menard.

-- A 170% increase in the value of projects from repeat customers in the period versus H1 2013, (the average project values as a result of the repeat nature is almost double that of the same period last year).

-- Continued International growth, with projects started in H1 2014 from 17 countries, with the UK and USA contributing the majority.
-- Continued success in expanding the Partner network.

Focus on reaching profitability

blur Group completed its $21m fundraise (net proceeds after costs) in June which funds the Company through to profitability and enables the continued acceleration of new customer acquisition, technology development and regional expansion into Asia. The better than planned 1H 2014 EBITDA of $(3.995)m reflects the management's tight focus on achieving profitability.

The improved financial performance is supported both by strong gross profits at 27% of revenue in H1 2014, and the success of the new technology platform, blur 4.0, enabling the company to grow top line revenues while slowing the need for additional headcount. Staff levels are the same at the end of H1 2014 (78 FTE's) as at the start of the period reflecting the efficiency gains the Company is achieving. With the successful implementation of an enterprise-class financial management software system, the Group's management has better financial visibility and controls to manage the business tightly. The company also benefits from improved customer credit maturity as it expands into the Enterprise space and customers adopt the platform for more projects on a repeat basis.

Operational leverage

As the blur model matures and grows, the expected benefits of operational leverage are now becoming visible. One aspect of this is that the acquisition of Experts is becoming increasingly viral, with several Experts now becoming customers of the Exchange for their own business.

International growth

International growth continues although the bulk of projects still come from the UK and USA, with the UK representing the highest level of contribution to H1 2014. Projects were submitted from 70 different countries including a significant number from Asia, reinforcing the previously announced strategy to set up a satellite Asian sales office in the next year.

Repeat customer growth

While the Global Services Exchange has been used for one-off, often difficult-to-source projects, there is increasing evidence, from repeat usage (value up 170% on the same period last year), that blur is now being used strategically by customers as a platform where they will source an increasing proportion of their services buying across an increasing number of Exchange Categories.

Enterprise customers

H1 2014 saw several new Enterprise customers including Amazon, who have used the Exchange for multiple projects requiring local expertise in different regions, Sabre, Incisive Media and Menard Inc. as well as repeat projects from longer standing Enterprise customers.

blur 4.0 technology platform launched

During the period, we launched blur 4.0, a re-write of our platform, which took a 'mobile-first' design approach so that customers can access the exchange from a tablet or smartphone as well as a PC. It should be noted that as of September 2014, 12% of our site usage came from mobile devices, a proportion that is growing strongly. The relaunch also allowed us to offer a better experience for all our users with fewer clicks and integrated help. Alongside blur 4.0 we also launched a new Premium Account tool that allows multiple individuals in a customer organisation to unlock new revenue streams.

HQ move

We are pleased to announce that our HQ move from London to Exeter is complete. We are already seeing the expected advantages of the move in terms of staff satisfaction, recruitment and interaction with the local business community. Since the HQ move to Exeter, it has enabled the establishment of experienced and qualified departments, including the Finance team focused on implementing our new finance system integrating rigorous controls and real-time reporting and cash management.

Partner and affiliate program

The strategic partnerships program is now firmly established including working with a consortium in the South West of England, with AMIS and most recently the first Asian partnership was established with Compass Group. There are now over 1,000 referral partners worldwide who provide a cost-efficient network to generate projects from different vertical sectors and segments and regions.

H1 2014 Financial Performance

The financial performance of the business has met our, and market, expectations for H1 2014 as detailed below:

$5.7m revenue, 303% year on year growth, in line with management's forecasts

The first half of the year has shown continued growth in revenues with recognised revenues reaching $5.7m and bookings increased to $16m, which represents the growing bank from which future revenues can be recognised. The profile of projects being submitted and kicked off on the Exchange shows the majority are within the $10k to $100k range. However, Enterprise customers are repeatedly using the exchange. blur Group revenue consists of:

1. Project revenue. This revenue is based on the project value that the customer submitted to the Exchange and confirmed in the statement of work of the deliverables. Project revenue is recognized in the period in which the project is delivered, as adjusted for the stage of completion of the project or milestone achievements.

2. Listing fee. This fee is a mandatory charge when a customer has listed a project but is waived if the project goes to "Kick off". If the customer decides to close their trading account or not to select an expert, the listing fee becomes payable. The project is listed when the customer submits the brief and opens the trading account. This covers the customer's use of their trading account and the cost of the time spent delivering pitches and running through the Exchange process.

blur recognizes project revenue on a gross basis, based on the project value confirmed on the statement of work, as our evaluation and assessment of the indicators under IFRS accounting standards supports the case that blur Group is acting as principal for each project in its dealings with its customers and experts.

Revenue recognition changes

As reported in May with the 2013 final results, we have reviewed and updated our revenue recognition policy in H1 2014 following the rapid growth of both the number of projects and the size of the individual projects. The new revenue recognition policy is both prudent and conservative.

Revenue is now recognised on the following basis:

-- Projects where the revenue is recognised over the timeline of the project: when the customer chooses an expert and agrees the Statement of Work ('SoW'), the project has "kicked off" and a minimum of 10% is recognised on the basis that a listing fee equivalent would apply. If the timeline of the project life from date submitted to date kick off is greater than 10% of the lifecycle, the amount recognised would equate to the percentage of time elapsed during the lifetime of the project. The remainder of the project revenue would be recognised over the lifetime of the project on a month by month basis, as set out in the SoW.

-- Projects where the revenue is recognised based on milestones or deliverables: when the customer chooses an expert and agrees the SoW, the project has "kicked off" and a minimum of 10% is recognised on the basis that a listing fee equivalent would apply. The remainder of the project revenue is recognised when milestones or deliverables are met as confirmed by the expert.

-- The SoW sets out the project timelines, deliverables, invoicing and associated cash collectable. If projects include contingent elements, these are treated like milestones and may vary during the lifecycle of the project.

Re-stating 2013 revenue and cost of sales

As a result of the updated Revenue Recognition policy, H1 2013 revenue and associated costs have been amended to reflect the revised treatment and to enable comparison. The impact on H1 2013 has been to reduce recognised revenue from $3.4m to $1.4m and EBITDA has been reduced from $(1,560)k to $(2,018)k. The changes to our policies and processes have now been fully implemented into the Groups working practices and the results will be reflected in both this and upcoming announcements.

Strong revenue growth

The business continues to grow strongly with 3x growth in revenue (303%) over the comparable period (H1 2013) last year on an adjusted basis.

Strong bookings & project value growth

The total value of bookings in H1 2014, $16.04m, has surpassed by over 3x the figure in the comparable period last year (H1 2013: $5.2m). It is important to note that as part of our continued work to present visibility to shareholders, we have defined 'booking' to mean where the project has a fully signed-off 'SoW'. We believe that this change will provide greater certainty to the overall results of the business.

Successful fundraising

As reported previously, blur completed a $21m fundraise (net proceeds after costs) in June 2014 that is planned to take the Group through to profit. The fundraising will also be used to accelerate new customer acquisition, technology development, and regional expansion into Asia.

Gross profit of $1.5m, 27% of revenue

The business model continues to generate predictable and consistent gross profits. The H1 figures of $1.5m represents 27% of our revenue. This model has proved resilient and we see no reason for adverse change.

EBITDA of $(3.995)m, in Line with Management's expectations

The EBITDA of $(3.995)m is in line with expectations as we grow the business and expand both our offerings and our operating territories. The recent fundraising and our revenue growth will see the business, as previously announced, move towards profitability within two years.

Growth of the governance, Management and Corporate Sales teams

Critical to our ability to grow is ensuring we have the right people in place to govern and manage the business along with the right number of people who can sell into medium and large sized enterprises.

As previously announced, we are separating the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive and are making good progress with this appointment. Again as previously flagged, we are recruiting a Chief Financial Officer based in Exeter and we hope to announce an appointment soon.

Our sales teams are growing in both the UK and US and we are pleased to say that they are working well with a growing pipeline of business being generated.

Enterprise level financial system

During the period under review, following a period of parallel running with the old system, we have fully implemented Netsuite a SaaS based financial and business reporting system. This completes our programme of upgrades and integration and provides the business with a proven industry-standard and highly resilient SaaS based infrastructure providing applications from ERP to CRM.

Outlook & Current Trading

Current trading is meeting our growth expectations with growing pipelines and positive performance across all key indicators such as project submissions, projects listed, repeat projects and project size and value.

blur Group has now reached a point of business maturity and organisational stability. We believe this gives us a strong platform to develop for the next stage of growth and to profitability. We have been learning about the market as much as the market has been learning about us. We now know what works, what makes people want to work with us and do so again and again. We also know how best to manage large projects, from a sales, operational and financial perspective.

[genesisark] 08/9/2014 10:44

A "tell a random lie" app ?

[angus17] 07/9/2014 10:21

Hi J777J

I can see the project counter on the web site but where do you get the funds increasing stat from?

cheers

[j777j] 05/9/2014 15:54

Funds increasing graduallyShould get news on new cfo and non exec chairman soonish as they have been searching since may.All to play for.

[j777j] 03/9/2014 11:02

So you are sitting on free shares, you must learn gratitude.It should keep you in mutton and clean shirts for a while.


The way you have been banging on here,people might have assumed you lost a fortune.Not made one,without it seems, even lifting a finger.

[j777j] 02/9/2014 11:16

For someone who claims to be a shareholder, I am now seriously wondering about your sanity.


Interims out this month.

[haydock] 01/9/2014 10:01

A little life in Blur.
Has entered the Japanese cloud with a little Bull signal.


hxxp://www.ichimokutrader.com/

[j777j] 29/8/2014 14:09

IMO the small trades are the shorts trying to create the impression you just gave.

[woods183] 29/8/2014 09:42

Just another 1000% to go then I'm in the money lol

[j777j] 29/8/2014 09:13

Of course the other thing is,having done all the groundwork, the co is vulnerable to an opportunistic bid having fallen from over 800p .

You have loss making co's like Snapchat being valued at $10 billion and here is a pioneering company with a massive addressable valued at just $60 million.

The Yanks must be licking their chops.


Was it Liberum with a 250p price target?


A number of UK tech co's have received bid approaches in the last few weeks.


Trading update

9th July 2014

Philip Letts, blur Group CEO. "We were particularly pleased to see additional projects from companies including Amazon, Sabre and Canadian Cancer in this period, reinforcing our focus on customer experience and retention."

Sounds like repeat business to me.

One has to wonder with the Amazon's and Ebay's whether this is try before you buy the whole company

[stuart37] 29/8/2014 09:04

Some good buyers out in force today - nice 250k at 75.......

[j777j] 28/8/2014 15:51

Of course it is not, this is a very fast growing young company with a real chance of becoming a global player6,000th project has been reached today.Congrats to blur team

[stegrego] 28/8/2014 12:34

Still totally irrelevant how many projects or value if they never
start or they dont make any money on them.

[tomboyb] 28/8/2014 12:06

That was the 80s with the first track " Take on me" -

[stuart37] 28/8/2014 11:59

weren't they an 80's band? or maybe they were 90s!

[j777j] 28/8/2014 11:02

I feel we are edging ever nearer to the "AHA" moment.

[tomboyb] 28/8/2014 10:59

Blur looks like it wants to move back into the 70s -

[j777j] 28/8/2014 10:35

Another one that clearly took Pink Floyd's "we don't need no
education," literally.