Lbg Media Share Discussion Threads

[masurenguy] 20/12/2023 15:56

Positive Y/E update with sales up 6.7% and EBITDA up 8%. These growth figures would have been higher but for the problems encountered in Australia. Without them, EBITDA would have increased by circa 30%. With a restructuring of Australian operations and new horizons in the US, after completing their recent acquisition there, the prospects for the new year look to be promising.

Pre-Close Trading Update

The board of LBG Media is pleased with the strategic and financial progress in FY23 as the Group further deepened its market leadership position, now with over 440M followers. Direct blue chip advertiser relationships have grown significantly.

The Board expects to report revenue growth from £62.8m last year to approximately £67m for FY23. We also expect adjusted EBITDA* to have grown at least 8% from £15.7m last year to at least £17m in FY23 and with a second half performance of at least £14m, having grown that from £3m reported in the first half of FY23. Adjusting for a reduction in the year-on-year profit contribution from Australia, our underlying adjusted EBITDA would have grown by over 30% year-on-year.

We have significantly accelerated our progress into the US this year with the acquisition of Betches Media in October 2023, for an initial consideration of $24m. Both performance and integration are going to plan and its contribution will naturally be much more significant next year as we progress our plans into the US market, which is worth over $363bn.

In Australia we have implemented a number of positive changes to make the operating model more efficient from January 2024. This is in response to a year-on-year reduction in Australia's profitability of approximately £3m, with our improvements not only reversing the reduction felt this year but also providing a more efficient model from which to grow, and a potential partnership template to consider for other regions in the future. Our improvements in Australia combine the centralisation of social and web operations into our UK centre of excellence at a more efficient cost base for the indirect revenues and for direct revenues, leveraging a new multi-year strategic partnership model recently announced with the largest online media publisher in the country.

Our UK and Ireland businesses have continued to perform well this year highlighting the strength of our differentiated offering, our unrivalled audience growth and high levels of engagement against our competitors as well as the quality of the talent within the business. This is further evidenced by our high conversion rates and significant roster of new and growing clients working with us.

Outlook

The Board remains confident in the growth outlook for 2024, supported by the progression of our US ambitions with Betches Media, realising the benefits of our new operating model in Australia as well as the opportunities represented by key advertising moments such as Euro 2024 and the Olympics.

[masurenguy] 27/11/2023 16:00

This is now on an upward trajectory - the shareprice has risen by 29% over the past 3 months.

[john09] 14/11/2023 08:52

Morning all

New thread for sharewatchers. General chat about SCSW followed stocks so investors can discuss 2024 etc. No sharing of subscriber only information

[strollingmolby] 18/10/2023 10:39

Interesting acquisition of Betches Media in the US, though looks expensive on the face of it. $24m initial consideration and up to $30m more dependent on certain revenue and profitability targets to 2026, for a group with $3.9m adjusted EBITDA in 2022 on revenue of $14.6m.

Betches does appear to have healthy margins but it would have been good to see what those targets are through 2026 for those additional cash payments to be made.

[masurenguy] 15/10/2023 14:30

Thanks for that link SM. Some interesting comments from Abby Glennie on LBG but of course that was 5 months ago and the small cap market has declined since then. The shareprice is circa 17% lower today despite having rebounded a bit over over the past few weeks. The other interesting stock that she commented on was Spirent where the shareprice has virtually halved since then. Spirent has been on my watchlist for some time wheras I'm already invested in LBG and I'm just slightly underwater at the current price. Both of these companies have strong balance sheets and capable management and they are also market leaders in their niche sectors.

[strollingmolby] 15/10/2023 14:07

I didn't notice this mention of LBG at the time of issue (May'23), by Abbie Glennie of Abrdn, and is worth a listen (approx. 4 mins long):

[john09] 06/10/2023 12:38

I found that more interesting than your usual cut and paste of an RNS that we can all see anyway

[masurenguy] 06/10/2023 12:34

Despite the recent weakness in small caps, LBG is up by 20% over the past couple of weeks.

[masurenguy] 26/7/2023 06:22

Positive progress in H1 with sales up 10%, EBITDA by 80% and cash by 11.6%.

Trading update

-- The Group expects to report first half revenue of £27.2m (HY22: £24.8m) representing growth of approximately 10% and reflective of the seasonality we anticipate between H1 and H2.

o Direct revenues increased by approximately 9% to £11.5m (HY22: £10.6m) driven by the Group's growing reputation with global brands and successful campaigns. Visibility of booking levels for the second half of the year is also improved compared to this time last year.

o Indirect revenue increased by approximately 13% to £15.3m (HY22: £13.6m). Year on year content view growth improved by over 60%, enabling the Group to greater capitalise on the market shift to short-form content that occurred in the second half of last year.

-- HY23 adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately £3m, (HY22: £1.6m) an increase of over 80% on last year.

-- Cash and cash equivalents as at 30 June 2023 of £32.7m compared to £29.3m at 31 December 2022.

Acquisition update

In line with the Group's inorganic growth strategy, during the period LBG Media completed the bolt-on asset acquisition of Lessons Learned in Life (LLIL), an under-monetised asset that is on track to achieve payback within its first year.

Outlook

Normal seasonality in advertising spend means that revenue, and, with the relatively even split of costs, significantly more so profitability, are weighted towards the second half of the year. The Board believes that the Group's highly differentiated offering and strategic programme will continue to fuel our growth and combined with the momentum we take into H2, the Board can confirm the outlook for the full year remains in line with market expectations.

CEO, Solly Solomou commented: "We have delivered a strong first-half performance in line with our expectations, notwithstanding the tough macroeconomic backdrop. The significant increase in content views demonstrates our effective ongoing engagement with the hard to reach 18-34 year-old demographic: this is a highly attractive proposition for advertisers and will continue to fuel our growth. LBG Media has a well-defined set of strategic growth pillars, a strong balance sheet to execute on and the ability to capitalise on the growth drivers. I'm excited by the opportunities that lie ahead."

The Group intends to announce its 2023 half year results on 20 September 2023.

[cestnous] 02/6/2023 06:25

Yet more options granted. I’m out

[cestnous] 30/5/2023 08:15

Seems to be a lot of options being issued here

[whites123] 18/4/2023 06:55

Always good to see a director buy and we know Solly has been increasing to own 42%.

The stock isnt on the radar of the PI, hence very limited dealings, which of course supresses the share price

Time will come. :-)

[masurenguy] 18/4/2023 06:09

New CEO Richard Jarvis invests £20K in an initial share purchase.

[tole] 17/4/2023 05:47

https://citywire.com/funds-insider/news/expert-view-hotel-chocolat-lbg-ds-smith-vanquis-entain/Liberum tips LBG to play digital media growthLBG Media (LBG), owner of the Lad Bible brand, is a 'great way' to play the digital media theme, says Liberum.Analyst Ciaran Donnelly retained his 'buy' recommendation and target price of 145p on the publisher, which rose 5%, or 3.9p, to 80.9p yesterday.The group reported a 'year of strong progress' in 2022, with 15% revenue growth against a tough backdrop that highlighted its 'resilience'.'Momentum exiting the fourth quarter has continued into the first quarter and the outlook has been reiterated for full-year 2023,' said Donnelly.'Operating KPIs, such as audience and views have grown by 39% and 56%, respectively, highlighting LBG's content continues to resonate strongly with its hard-to-reach 13-to-34 audience.'Donnelly said the shares trade on a current year 2023 price/earnings of 12.2 times 'which we see as attractive'.

[masurenguy] 14/4/2023 12:38

LBG Media – BUY

The digital publisher has enjoyed a strong year of progress in 2022, with revenue growth of 15% against a tough macroeconomic backdrop. It has also set up a US office and made a number of smaller bolt-on acquisitions, according to Ciaran Donnelly, an analyst at Liberum. “LBG Media is a great way to play the growth in digital media with upside potential from M&A” he said.

[whites123] 12/4/2023 06:35

Results for the year ended 31 December 2022

and Board changes



LBG Media, the UK-based multi-brand, multi-channel digital youth publisher, is pleased to report its results for the full year ended 31 December 2022. During the year, the Group delivered a strong performance, against a challenging economic backdrop, with key strategic progress being made through expansion of our global audience and content views, and continued growth in both new and existing brand partnerships.



Highlights



Business performance measures

2022 (£m)



2021 (£m)



Change

Financial:







Revenue

- Direct

- Indirect

- Other

Group Revenue



27.8

33.6

1.4

62.8



23.7

29.7

1.1

54.5



17%

13%

33%

15%

Adjusted EBITDA1

- Adjusted EBITDA margin1

15.7

25%

16.8

31%

(6%)



Profit before tax

7.3

8.1

(10%)

Cash and cash equivalents

29.3

34.3

(15%)



EPS:

2022 (p)

2021 (p)

Change

Basic

2.6

3.0

(13%)

Diluted

2.5

3.0

(17%)



Non - Financial:

2022

2021

Change

Global audience

366m

264m

39%

Content views

98bn

63bn

56%



· Group revenue increased by 15% to £62.8m boosted by a strong performance in the second half of the year.



o H2 revenue was £38.0m, 21% ahead of the prior year period and created positive momentum into 2023.



o The strong performance was delivered from both Direct and Indirect income streams and across the Group's geographies, with record Q4 revenue.



o Direct revenue of £27.8m, +17% YoY (2021: £23.7m) driven by a strong performance in both the UK and international markets. International revenue from APAC and Ireland grew by 52% and now represents c.20% of this income stream.



o Indirect revenue of £33.6m, +13% YoY (2021: £29.7m), with a relatively much stronger H2 performance, +20% vs prior year (H1: +4%) as a result of the successful early transition to short form video content demonstrating the Group's agility to adapt and stay ahead of the market.



· Adjusted EBITDA1 was £15.7m (2021: £16.8m). This included a strong H2 performance of £14.1m +48% YoY, as a result of the H2 revenue growth and swift action taken to restructure the staff cost base in recognition of the tough macro-economic environment impacting advertising spend.



Cash and cash equivalents of £29.3m, down £5.0m YoY (2021: £34.3m). The primary causes of the cash reduction in-year were:

o Weighting of revenue in Q4 2022 resulting in a significant movement in receivables YoY (£5.2m).

o The cash impact of adjusting items (£2.0m).

o Cash outflow in Q1 2022 to pay the 2021 IPO related liabilities (£2.6m).

o Payment of deferred Australian tax (£1.1m).

o Investing activities including two small bolt on acquisitions (£2.2m).



The cash and cash equivalents as of 11 April 2023 were £33.6m.



Operational Highlights



· Our global audience grew by 39% YoY to 366m, with 98bn content views in the period, up 56% YoY, following the successful pivot to short form video and further content diversification.



· Followers on TikTok grew by 72% YoY, diversifying our reach across platforms. We are now the number one news publisher on TikTok.



· The Group made the difficult decision to reduce its staffing costs in H2. This involved restructuring the business, including the redundancy of 43 employees. We continue to be well placed to continue to deliver on our strategy in the future.



· The Group opened its office in New York City, ahead of launching operations in 2023, expanding its US presence and building on its significant following, by producing dedicated content for the local audience.



· In 2022, the Group completed two small bolt on acquisitions of social media pages, increasing its target audience and bringing new genres of content to the Group's brand portfolio.



· Continued to scale our dedicated youth research panel, LADnation, which now has more than 55,000 members.



Outlook



In 2022, global digital advertising spend was £541bn2 and is forecast to grow at an 8%2 CAGR over the next three years. Digital accounted for 67%2 of the total advertising spend in 2022, with market growth ahead of all other segments, and is estimated to grow to 73%2 by 2027.



The Board and wider management team remain focused on the Group's three strategic pillars for growth; geographic expansion, acquisitions and expansion of our capabilities.



2023 year to date performance has been positive, continuing the strong momentum seen in Q4 2022, and the Group remains on track to deliver external expectations3 for the full year.



As with prior years, revenue is affected by the seasonality in advertising spend (typically 40/60), with Adjusted EBITDA even more weighted towards H2 given that operating costs are relatively evenly spread across the year.





Board changes



Tim Croston, Chief Financial Officer, has notified the board of his intention to retire later this year. Tim will step down as Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect, however he will remain in the business for a number of months in order to facilitate a smooth handover to his successor Richard Jarvis ACMA who joins us from GB Group plc, the AIM-listed digital location, identity and fraud prevention software experts where he was Group Commercial Finance Director.



Richard joined GB Group plc in 1996 and has held a number of senior and executive roles there including Group Financial Controller, Deputy Finance Director and for the last four years as Group Commercial Finance Director. During his time with GB Group, Richard managed and developed a global finance team across UK, USA and APAC, gained significant international growth and acquisition experience and guided GB Group on performance, commercial opportunities and risks.



Richard joined the Group on 11 April 2023.




The following information is provided in accordance with Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies:



Richard Mark Jarvis (aged 49) does not currently hold, nor has held within the last five years, any Directorships or Partnerships.



Richard holds no shares in the Company.



There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.





CEO, Solly Solomou commented:

"We have made continued financial and operational progress in 2022. H2 was particularly strong, delivered amid a challenging backdrop, with both our core revenue streams demonstrating the resilient nature of our business.

"LBG is well positioned to capitalise on the fast-growing digital media market. We have a diverse range of brands catering to the hard to reach 18-34-year-old demographic, have expanded our capabilities, with our survey platform LADnation forming an increasingly key part of our offer, and we are taking advantage of the significant growth opportunity that the US market has to offer.

We ended 2022 with a great deal of positive momentum, as evidenced by our record direct revenue performance for Q4, and with this momentum continuing into 2023 I am excited by what lies ahead for the business."

Chairman, Dave Wilson commented on Board changes:

"The Board would like to thank Tim for his great contribution to the Group's development in the important period in the years up to and since its successful IPO in late 2021. We look forward to continuing to work with Tim during the handover to his successor. I'm pleased to welcome Richard to the Group who I know well having worked him with previously at GB Group plc. I'm confident that with his skills and experience of both international growth and public markets, we will have a worthy successor to Tim."

[whites123] 03/4/2023 11:38

Solly has bought £500,000 shares in past few months.

Call me naïve if you wish and to accepting of things on face value but for a CEO to spend £500,000 and increase his holding to 42% suggests to me that there are plans afoot that wont be keeping the share price at current low prices.

IMO, its a STRONG BUY

[whites123] 30/3/2023 12:04

The Director Purchases are a healthy indication.

The update looked particularly healthy.

Pre-Close Trading update

LBG Media plc, the UK-based multi-brand, multi-channel digital youth publisher, announces a pre-close trading update for the full year ending 31 December 2022 ("FY22").

Following a robust performance in the second half of the year ("H2") to date, full year revenue is expected to be approximately £63m and adjusted EBITDA* approximately £16m.

As anticipated, revenue growth has accelerated in the seasonally stronger second half and Group revenue is expected to have grown by over 20% in this period vs the prior year. There has been growth across both Direct and Indirect segments against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment.

Given the momentum seen in H2, and cost reduction exercise completed in November 2022, management is confident about the outlook for continued growth in 2023.

[john09] 25/3/2023 15:35

Buy at 50p disco