Strong revenue growth, which is expected to accelerate further in H2 as new business wins feed through
- Good organic growth at longest-serving partner companies, agenda21 and MMT Digital, with net revenue increasing 21% and 44% respectively
Proof of concept firmly established
- 23% of H1 revenue from clients served by two or more Be Heard companies
- Eight clients now served by two or more companies within the Group with our first client working with three Group companies
Progress with buy-and-build strategy
- £2.1m raised to acquire Freemavens, a leading-edge analytics and insight consultancy, in February 2017
Strong new business performance across the Group with 25 new client wins including Addison Lee, Coca-Cola, GSK, Unilever Food Solutions and Vodafone Enterprise
Half year profit constrained by investment to deliver growth and headwinds at Kameleon
- Increased headcount at MMT to support growth
- Kameleon loss making in H1; expected to return to profit in the second half
Headline Financial results
|
HY 2017 |
HY 2016 |
|
|
£m |
£m |
|
|
Billings |
16.0 |
14.7 |
|
Net Revenue |
8.3 |
3.3 |
|
Trading EBITDA1 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
|
Operating Profit (adjusted)2 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
|
Loss per share (diluted) |
(0.3)p |
(0.6)p |
1. represents Operating Profit (adjusted) prior to central group costs.
2. adjusted to exclude depreciation, amortisation and impairment of intangibles, acquisition & listing costs, share based payments and holiday pay accrual.
Current trading
Continuing strong new business run. Additional assignments from existing clients including Axelos, ComparetheMarket, Hodder, Unilever and Vodafone plus new client wins including Autotrader and Pittsburgh Paint Group
Momentum and visibility on revenues underpins confidence for the full year
- Over 85% of forecast 2017 revenue billed or confirmed
Peter Scott, Executive Chairman of Be Heard, said:
“Be Heard enjoyed exceptional revenue growth in the first half. This reflects two long-term growth drivers: first, increasing client demand for connected marketing services as digital disruption accelerates; second, our pure play digital capabilities which are designed to help brands and marketers meet today’s challenges across the customer journey. While two factors held back profitability in the short term – increasing headcount at MMT to support growth and headwinds at Kameleon – momentum within the Group continues to be strong and we expect revenue in the second half of the year to be considerably above the first half as new business wins feed through.
Current visibility on revenues and progress underpins the Board’s confidence that the Group will deliver full year results in line with market expectations and strong run-rate profitability by the year end. Since our listing in November 2015 we have acquired four exceptionally-talented businesses and continue to explore opportunities to broaden our offering to clients.”
Gresham House Strategic PLC has a total interest of 10.6% in Be Heard Group PLC correct as of 31 August 2017 month end NAV announcement, released 04 September 2017
