Preliminary Results
ADVFN.COM PLC
20 October 2000
ADVFN.com PLC ('ADVFN' or 'the Company')
Preliminary Results for the Year Ending 30 June 2000
ADVFN, one of the UK's leading on-line resources for
financial information, today announces preliminary results
for the year ending 30 June 2000.
Key Financial Points:
Year Ended
30 June 30 June
2000 1999
£'000 £'000
Loss before Tax (29) (240)
Net loss Per Share (0.016p) (0.144p)
Cash in Bank 3,246 51
Highlights:
- Successfully completed AIM listing.
- Exceeded 1.5 million page impressions per day ahead
of expectations.
- Launched 'Level 2' service and released free real-
time product.
- Actively pursuing opportunities in 'new media' areas
of Interactive Television and m-commerce.
- Now operating two channels within Telewest's digital
television offering supplying realtime prices, quotes,
graphs, news and education.
- Developing WAP enabled services - making 'Quote'
content available on a standard WAP phone.
Mike Boydell, ADVFN's Managing Director commented:
'ADVFN has now established itself as one of the top
financial websites in Europe and has joined the elite of
most heavily trafficked sites in the UK. Our expansion
plans for the UK, Europe and Asia lead us to believe that
our potential for growth is very exciting indeed.'
For further information, please contact:
ADVFN 020 7816 2636
Michael Boydell, Managing Director
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Jeremy Garcia/Alison Cole
Chairman's Statement
This is the first report for ADVFN.COM PLC and it comes
very early in its life as both a public company and a
service. ADVFN.COM first opened its doors to the public on
2nd December 1999. We floated on the AIM on 20th March
2000.
Since then we have concentrated on building ADVFN with the
aim of becoming the foremost website providing financial
information on UK shares.
We have worked hand in hand with our users to provide them
with the service they want and we have added a myriad of
features to become the most comprehensive and sophisticated
investor website in the UK.
We brought level 2 share information to the service in
August this year and released our free unlimited real-time
product. This has led to further accelerated growth and as
we reported during September our page impressions went
through the 1.5 million a day barrier.
This attention to the needs of the market has seen the rise
in our page impressions grow beyond our highest
expectations. It now appears as I write that we are the
leader in the field.
All of this, from what was just an idea one year ago.
This performance is a direct result of the dedication of
the team at ADVFN.COM, who's commitment to create the best
possible financial information website has paid off in
making ADVFN one of the most popular websites in the UK.
We believe very much in listening to our audience and many
have become our shareholders as well. Likewise we hope
that our shareholders will actually use ADVFN and we
encourage you to logon to ADVFN.com and see your investment
at work.
It is part of our ethos to give our users access to the
heart of the City, so it is apt that our new office
location will be across the street from the London Stock
Exchange itself. This will give us the opportunity to grow
and also bring under our own roof our popular investor
training courses.
The next twelve months looks set to be as exciting and
positive as the last twelve. We believe we can capitalise
on our growth and establish ourselves as one of the leading
Internet brands, which we feel is an exciting prospect both
as a business and as a service.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of
the team at ADVFN.COM for their hard work and many long
nights. It is this dedication that has allowed us to
create the company we have today, of which I am very proud.
Michael J Hodges
Chairman
19 October 2000
Managing Director's Review
Operating Review
ADVFN.com Plc is one of the leading on-line resources for
financial information on the World Wide Web for investors
in the United Kingdom.
1999-2000 has been a very good year for ADVFN as we
launched our site and successfully completed our listing on
the Alternative Investment Market in March. We have
enjoyed rapid development and a rate of growth that has far
surpassed expectations.
In August we launched two new products which have been well
received, and we believe they will pave the way for a
dramatic change in the way retail investors make investment
decisions using the latest technology. Our aggressive
development initiatives coupled with our unique approach to
customer service have made our site a compelling first port
of call for the knowledgeable 'wired' investor.
Website usage statistics issued in both August and in
September confirm that the ADVFN brand has reached a high
level of market acceptance exceeding even our most
optimistic projections. As we have now reached a critical
mass in the UK, we will be turning our attention to
monetising our extensive traffic and the coming months will
see us working hard to maximise revenues from what we hope
will continue to be a growing base. While revenue from
subscriptions and training programmes are healthy,
advertising and sponsorship revenue offer an extremely
lucrative avenue, which we are beginning to capitalise on
as our brand continues to grow.
New Media
We have been actively pursuing opportunities in the 'new
media' areas of Interactive Television and m-commerce, and
on 5 June, announced an agreement with Telewest
Communications for ADVFN to broadcast over Telewest's
broadband networks.
ADVFN now has two channels within Telewest's digital
television offering supplying real time prices, quotes,
graphs, news and education.
Interactive television is widely forecast to become the
medium of choice that households will use to see
interactive information. Merrill Lynch estimates that
household penetration in the UK will reach 80% by 2008.
ADVFN is currently adapting its content to co-ordinate with
this media early on in order to gain a competitive
advantage through experience in this nascent market as we
are positioning ourselves to be market leaders in this
field.
We view the wireless market to be an area of limitless
potential for expansion and development. International
Data Corporation estimates that within 4 years' time 270
million Europeans will have access to wireless mobile
telephony devices of which 69% or 186 million will be WAP
enabled.
ADVFN has been building up its m-commerce offering by
making our Quote content accessible by WAP-enabled mobile
devices. Currently, real time prices, top percentage
gainers, top percentage losers, news and company RNS
announcements can be viewed on a standard WAP phone. While
WAP is in its early stages, we see the coming m-commerce
platforms as providing an exciting opportunity for revenue
from both subscription, advertising and interconnect
revenue.
These major developments are part of ADVFN's vision of
empowering investors through the broadest range of media
available to date.
The company's human wealth (Consumer Focus)
The success of ADVFN lies primarily in the quality of the
service provided to our customers. Our high quality of
service makes our company a standard in the UK.
The input from our customers is paramount to our way
forward, and that is why we listen to suggestions and
comments, and react as quickly as possible to customer
input. We feel that this has been critical to our success.
Our efforts to meet our customers through regional Focus
Groups is exceptional in British business and is a vital
process in the development of our operations.
Technology
Technology is key to the performance of our website. We
have inherited many of the skills and processes learnt in
the games industry from our parent company On-line PLC.
This has served us well, enabling our rapid expansion and
the opportunity to grow at a very fast pace without vast
expenditure.
Our technological skills will continue to be of prime
importance as we grow. We are leveraging this 'core
competence' to provide new tools and services at a rapid
rate, and feel that we will remain at the forefront of
developments.
In line with this, our 3D data visualisation software, 2C,
has been receiving extensive coverage in the Internet's
premier magazine WIRED and its initial release in 4th
quarter 2000 is expected to be a strong draw for ADVFN. We
now hold key pending patents on its visualisation
technology and are looking to 2001 as the year where it
will establish itself as a new platform for investment
decision making. Our plans for the product are to focus on
generic tools and models to give 2C a global application
for data representation.
Revenue
Trading in the period was much in line with expectations.
The figures represent a small window on this first few
weeks of trading. With the substantial increase we have
seen in traffic we are now entering a phase of monetisation
earlier than expected and we are optimistic that revenues
will develop at a rate in line with our user base. New
pricing levels (from 1st August 2000) at £5 and £35 per
month are already showing a positive impact on subscription
income.
Our inventory of banner advertising is potentially one of
the largest in the industry and with such a high value
demographic audience we have an opportunity for premium
pricing. We are recruiting a new internal Sales Team to
give us further leverage and opportunity.
As an Internet start up we are unusual in being able to
charge a Premium subscription for services on our sites.
The initial launch prices for parts of the site at £5 and
£15 per month levels have now been changed to reflect new
content and data provision.
Success Events
The acquisition by ADVFN of Success Events during May 2000
was an important step for our business model of providing
not only the best possible investment tools but also
enabling us to educate our users and third parties in the
intricacies of investment and trading.
Success Events has also surpassed expectations since its
acquisition and is now expanding its range of courses. The
content and the quality of presentation has been roundly
praised and the company is now established as the leader in
its field.
Prospects
ADVFN has now established itself as one of the top
financial websites in Europe and has joined the elite of
most heavily trafficked sites in the UK. Our expansion
plans for the UK, Europe and Asia lead us to believe that
our potential for growth is very exciting indeed.
Michael Boydell
Managing Director
19 October 2000
Consolidated Profit and Loss Account
for the year ended 30 June 2000
Group Company
2000 1999
£000 £000 £000 £000
Notes
Turnover
Continuing operations 90 -
Acquisition 28 -
----- -----
118 -
Discontinued operations 1,120 1,008
----- -----
1,238 1,008
Cost of sales (21) (30)
----- -----
Gross profit 1,217 978
Administrative expenses (1,287) (1,216)
------- -------
Operating profit / (loss)
Continuing operations (663) -
Acquisition - -
----- ----
(663) -
Discontinued operations 593 (238)
----- -----
(70) (238)
Net interest 41 (2)
------ ------
Loss on ordinary
activities before
taxation (29) (240)
Tax on loss on ordinary
activities (2) -
------ -----
Loss on ordinary
activities after taxation (31) (240)
------ -----
Loss per ordinary share 2 0.016p 0.144p
There were no recognised gains or losses other than the
loss for the financial year.
Balance Sheets at 30 June 2000
Group Company Company
2000 2000 1999
Notes £000 £000 £000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 1,349 1,014 -
Tangible assets 9 - 119
Investments - 350 -
----- ----- ----
1,358 1,364 119
Current assets
Stocks - finished goods for
resale - - 12
Debtors 153 151 229
Cash at bank and in hand 3,246 3,227 51
----- ----- ----
3,399 3,378 292
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year (493) (476) (355)
Net current assets /
(liabilities) 2,906 2,902 (63)
----- ----- -----
Total assets less current
liabilities 4,264 4,266 56
Creditors: amounts falling
due after more than
one year - - (553)
------ ----- -----
Net assets 4,264 4,266 (497)
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 2,505 2,505 2
Share premium account 2,336 2,336 47
Profit and loss account (577) (575) (546)
------ ----- -----
Shareholder's funds 3 4,264 4,266 (497)
The accounts were approved by the Board of Directors on 19
October 2000.
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the year ended 30 June
2000
Group Company
Notes 2000 1999
£000 £000
Net cash (outflow) / inflow
from operating
Activities 4 (147) 453
Returns on investment and
servicing of finance
Interest received 46 -
Interest paid (5) (2)
----- -----
41 (2)
Capital expenditure
Payments to acquire (1,154) (364)
intangible fixed assets
Payments to acquire tangible (73) (120)
fixed assets
Sale of tangible fixed assets 166 -
------- -----
(1,061) (484)
Acquisition
Purchase of subsidiary
undertaking (350) -
------- -----
Net cash outflow before
financing (1,517) (33)
Financing
Issue of ordinary share
capital 4,792 -
Capital element of new
finance leases and
hire purchase contracts - 101
Capital element of finance
lease and hire
purchase contracts repaid (93) (21)
----- ------
Net cash inflow from
financing 4,699 80
----- ------
Increase in cash 5 3,182 47
Notes
1. Basis of preparation
The financial information herein does not constitute
statutory accounts as defined in section 240 of the
Companies Act 1985.
The financial information has been extracted from the
group's statutory financial statements for the year ended
30 June 2000 upon which the auditors opinion is unqualified
and does not include any statement under section 237 of the
Companies Act 1985.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with
applicable accounting standards and under the historical
cost convention.
The principal accounting policies of the group have
remained unchanged since the previous year, except for the
policies on group financial statements, investments and
financial instruments which are new this year.
Copies of the annual report are being posted to
shareholders and copies will be available from the
company's registered office at Crown House, Linton Road,
Barking, Essex, IG11 8HJ.
2. Loss per ordinary share
Group Company
2000 1999
Number Loss Number Loss
of per of per
Loss shares share Loss shares share
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Loss for the year (31) (240)
Weighted average
number of shares 194,006 166,800
Loss per share 0.016p 0.144p
3. Reconciliation of movements in shareholders's funds
Group Company
2000 1999
£'000 £'000
Loss for the financial year (31) (240)
Receipts from issues of shares 4,792 -
----- -----
Net increase in shareholders' funds in
the year 4,761 (240)
Shareholders' funds at 1 July 1999 (497) (257)
----- -----
Shareholders' funds at 30 June 2000 4,264 (497)
4. Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash (outflow)
/ inflow from operating activities
Group Company
2000 1999
£'000 £'000
Operating loss (70) (238)
Amortisation 151 431
Depreciation 34 38
Profit on sale of tangible fixed
assets (8) -
Decrease / (increase) in stocks 12 (12)
Decrease / (increase) in debtors 86 (26)
(Decrease) / increase in creditors (352) 260
Net cash (outflow) / inflow from ----- ----
operating activities (147) 453
5. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net
funds
Group Company
2000 1999
£'000 £'000
Increase in cash for the year 3,182 47
Cash acquired on acquisition of subsidiary 13 -
New finance leases and hire purchase
agreements - (101)
Cash outflow from capital repayment of
hire purchase and finance lease agreements 93 21
----- -----
Movement in net cash / (debt) in the year 3,288 (33)
Net debt at 1 July 1999 (42) (9)
----- -----
Net cash / (debt) at 30 June 2000 3,246 (42)
6. Analysis of net cash / (debt)
Group Company
2000 1999
£'000 £'000
Cash at bank 3,246 51
Finance lease and hire purchase agreements - (93)
----- -----
Total 3,426 (42)
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