LBi - the global digital marketing and technology agency today
announces its third quarter results 2
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Strategy and organisational redesign continue to pay off, marginsadvance towards pre-crisis levelsThird quarter highlightsNet sales came in at EUR 33.8 million, in line with the secondquarter 2009 , impacted by seasonality effects in the Central andSouthern Europe and Scandinavia.Good sequential growth in adjusted EBITDA to EUR 4.8 million from thesecond quarter 2009, reflecting a strong adjusted E BITDA marginimprovement from 13.1% to 14.2% as a result of more retainedstrategic engagements, effective organisational redesign andimplemented cost efficiency measures.Non recurring (non cash) goodwill (and intangibles) impairment chargeof EUR 68.9 million as a result of economic downturn and consequentlylower than expected performance of historic acquired entities, mainlythe reversed merger of LB Icon and Framfab(all share deal) in 2006.Including the (non cash) impairment charge earnings per share came inat EUR 1.11 negative.Looking aheadConsistent evidence in US and U K markets of strong inbound activityand new business.Hesitant recovery in European markets, but signs that conditions arestarting to improve with anticipated visible topline impact as ofthe first quarter of 2010.Continued search for suitable acquisitions that extend serviceoffering and drive sell opportunity.Focus on strategic engagements, utilizing cross selling opportunitiesand increasing operating efficiencies aimed at building thefull-service digital agency best equipped to serve global accounts.Financial highlights+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+|EUR million |Jul- |Apr- |Jul-Sep|Change at|Jan- |Jan- |Change at|| |Sep |Jun |2008 |constant |Sep |Sep |constant || |2009 |2009 | |rates* |2009 |2008 |rates* ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||Net sales |33.8 |34.3 |41.0 |-15.1% |102.9|121.1|-13.2% ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||EBITDA |4.5 |4.5 |6.0 | |9.0 |15.7 | ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||EBITDA adjusted** |4.8 |4.5 |6.0 |-20.7% |13.1 |14.3 |-8.9 ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||EBITDA margin adjusted**|14.2%|13.1%|14.7% | |12.7%|11.8%| ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||Impairment |-68.9|- |- | |-68.9|- | ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||EBIT |-66.7|2.8 |4.1 | |-65.6|8.9 | ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||Net result |-68.3|2.2 |3.0 | |-68.7|5.1 | ||------------------------+-----+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----+---------||Earnings per share |-1.11|0.04 |0.05 | |-1.10|0.08 | |+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+* Change rates reflects year-on-year comparisons, adjusted forexchange rate fluctuations** January-September 2009 excludes EUR 4.1 million restructuringcosts. January-September 2008 excludes a EUR 1.4 million non cashgain during Q 1 2008 on dissolvement of three dormant entitities inthe Netherlands, whose businesses have been transferred to LBi LostBoys.SEK are used as functional currency in the LBi Group and EBITDAmargins and other growth measures are calculated from SEK.A word from the CEOAs expected business has been picking up from the low levels we sawin the first half of 2009. In the third quarter we have thereforebeen able to further improve our operating performance. Theorganisational redesign and extended service offer implemented in thefirst quarter have helped us increase our EBITDA by 2.0% compared tothe second quarter and by 25.9% compared to the first quarter 2009 atconstant rates. As a consequence, our third quarter EBITDA marginimproved from 13.1% in the second quarter to 14.2% in the thirdquarter, advancing back towards pre crisis levels.The operating performance improvement recorded in the third quarterand over the course of the year illustrates the effectiveness of therestructuring and legitimises the increased focus on higher marginand retained strategic engagements. Therefore, we continue toprioritise relationships that deliver long term visibility, where wehave the opportunity to manage the entire digital channel and therebyimprove our quality of earnings. We believe that this strategy betterpositions us for long term sustainable top line growth as the marketrecovers.In the most mature markets, the US and UK, we are seeing the benefitsof this disciplined approach. In both these regions there isincreasing evidence of improved sentiment and as a consequence of ourstrategy we are now driving significant improvement in both the topand bottom line. In the UK we saw a sound top line improvement of2.6% compared to the second quarter and 12.7% compared to the firstquarter of 2009 at constant rates, which we believe represented thebottom of the UK market for digital & advertising services. Thisgrowth in the UK specifically has been delivered as a consequence ofour differentiated offer and the increasing trend to consolidatedigital spend into the larger more mature full-service agencies. Thisalso contributed to the strong EBITDA improvement of 12.5% comparedto the second quarter and 28.6% compared to the first quarter 2009 atconstant rates.In the US we are seeing similar positive trends. The evolution of theintegrated full service offer is however a little less mature in thismarket and as a result the top line has increased by 6.7% compared tothe second quarter and by 13.1% compared to the first quarter of 2009at constant rates. The revenue synergies achieved via the combinationof LBi Special Ops Media and LBi Icon Nicholson, effective from 1January 2010 are anticipated to accelerate topline growth next year.The strong EBITDA improvement of 31.3% compared to the second quarterand 75.0% compared to the first quarter 2009 at constant rate hasbeen driven by both a rationalisation of the client portfolio andimplementation of a cost reduction programme enabled by thecombination of our NY operations.In Central and Southern Europe and Scandinavia the story is countryspecific. Overall, the recovery is more hesitant with a lagging topline and margin development. In the third quarter, performance inthese regions is typically impacted by seasonality and the highproportion of holiday entitlement in the period. However, the recentincrease in the size of the weighted funnel suggests that conditionsare starting to improve. In the fourth quarter we expect to furtherimprove margins in these regions as a consequence of better crossselling and a reduced reliance on more expensive new businessdevelopment. We do however not anticipate any meaningful improvementin the top line until the first quarter of 2010.Obviously, the one-off impairment announced today which is mainlyrelated to an all share transaction between LB Icon and Framfab backin 2006 at the height of the market, does not affect our cashposition nor our financial flexibility. The current economic realityrequires us to restate the goodwill to a more realistic level. Wecontinue to have conversations with a number of companies that allowus to both futureproof and intelligently extend our global serviceproposition.Luke Taylor, CEOhttp://hugin.info/86897/R/1349349/325147.pdfThis announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Datum: 22.10.2009 - 09:10 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 7264
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