Yoomedia PLC
06 February 2006
YooMedia plc / Ticker: YOO / Index: AIM / Sector: Media
6 February 2006
YooMedia plc
('the Company' or 'YooMedia')
Trading Update
This trading update has been made to provide information on trading performance
in 2005 in advance of YooMedia's Final Results for the year ended 31 December
2005, which are expected to be released in April 2006.
YooMedia announces that unaudited, provisional and indicative results for the
year ended 31 December 2005 are in line with the Board's expectation. The
company announced in June 2005 that the original profit forecasts would not be
met following slower growth and delayed project implementation on Channel 425,
the interactive channel operated with William Hill.
Unaudited results (£m)
2005 2004
Turnover 84.5 21.2
Net revenues 21.8 16.3
Gross profit 7.8 (0.2)
EBITDA (2.9) (7.2)
As a result of this, a range of measures has been implemented to ensure that the
Company is well placed to achieve positive EBITDA in 2006.
These include:
o New commercial terms were agreed with William Hill with effect from
November 2005
o In December 2005 an agreement was made with Gala Leisure under which
Gala acquired key assets of the Avago channel and YooMedia will benefit from a
three year revenue sharing agreement. The agreement provides for YooMedia to
exit from producing its own channel, and to discontinue ownership of, and
operating under, the Avago brand
o Cost reduction measures have been implemented to reduce staffing and
satellite bandwidth costs
o The chat service previously on Telewest and the YooPlay interactive
games channel previously on Sky's Interactive Menu have been discontinued
o Three new agreements for YooMedia's Datacasting service for Freeview
have been announced
o Extensive marketing of the Broadband TV proposition has commenced,
following the completion of the pilot service on ntl, the cable network operator
o Take up of YooMedia's mobile phone based marketing solutions has
increased following a dedicated sales campaign
The Gambling & Games division had net revenue of £6.4m and a gross loss of £1.3m
from gambling and games turnover of £69.1m. Instead of operating its own brands
YooMedia has repositioned the focus of this business to be a supplier of
interactive gambling and games to other businesses. Key clients in this division
are William Hill and Gala Leisure.
The net result of this re-positioning is expected to produce a net annualised
benefit to earnings before interest, tax and depreciation of at least £3.5m.
Net turnover of the Interactive Services division was £10.9m with gross profit
£6.3m.
YooMedia Dating turnover was £4.5m and gross profit £2.8m. Branded businesses in
this division include Dateline, Dateline One to One and Avenues. A strategic
review of this division has been undertaken with a view to a potential sale or
spin off of the business in 2006.
As part of the strategic review of the YooMedia Dating division, the Company has
reached an agreement with the 25% minority shareholders in YooMedia Dating to
acquire their shares for a consideration of 19,230,770 shares in YooMedia plc.
A further consideration of £500,000, also payable in YooMedia plc shares, will
be paid on certain performance criteria being met.
Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman said: '2005 was a challenging year for the
Company but the decisive action taken to reposition the business is delivering
results. We believe that with our proprietary technology and experienced team
YooMedia will play an integral role in the rapidly maturing interactive media
market. The last few months have seen a high volume of activity which we expect
to maintain as we continue to build and develop relationships with key blue chip
companies.'
* * ENDS * *
Enquiries:
Michael Sinclair, Neil MacDonald, Isabel Crossley,
Executive Chairman, Group MD, St Brides Media &
YooMedia plc YooMedia plc Finance Ltd
+44 (0) 20 7462 0870 +44 (0) 20 7462 0870 +44 (0) 20 7242 4477
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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