Preliminary results

ADVFN PLC 11 October 2005 Embargoed for release until 7.30 a.m. Tuesday 11th October 2005 ADVFN PLC ('ADVFN' or 'the Company') Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 30 June 2005 ADVFN, Europe's number one stocks and shares website, today announces preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2005. Highlights: • First full year's net profit of £1.01M (2004: £254K loss) • Net profit per ordinary share of 0.23p (2004: 0.06p loss) • EBITDA profits up 21% to £678K (2004: £560K) • ADVFN user numbers up 46% to over 540,000 (2004: 370,000) • Total user numbers across all group media properties up 159% to 960,000 (2004: 370,000) and further increased to over 1,200,000 by the report date • Up to the report date we have added £5.5M of off-balance sheet shareholder value with ADVFN Japan and ALL IPO Clement Chambers, Managing Director of ADVFN commented: 'The year to June 2005 has seen a transformation in ADVFN, which has now achieved profitability as well as significantly increasing its product offerings and other interests. I am pleased to be reporting a strong set of results with record figures across profit, EBITDA, sales, traffic and customer acquisition. We have also added significant value off balance sheet with the flotation of ALL IPO, the creation of ADVFN Japan and the implied value of our new web properties. Consequentially opportunities are becoming available to us across a broad spectrum and we believe we are in a new phase of development which will see ADVFN capitalise on its platforms and go from strength to strength over the next 12 - 18 months. The ADVFN properties, including Fotothing and CupidBay, are generating in excess of one million registrations a year at current rates of customer acquisition and recent corporate actions in the internet sector, which have seen many significant transactions, suggest that ADVFN is positioned to add significant shareholder value. With ADVFN's accelerating global presence and its successful web property strategy I am excited about our prospects for the coming year.' FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: ADVFN Clement Chambers, Managing Director clemc@advfn.com Michael Hodges, Chairman mikeh@advfn.com Francesca De Franco, PR francescad@advfn.com 020 7070 0932 Chairman's Statement I am very pleased to be able to announce our first full year's profit of £1.01M compared to last year's restated loss of £254K. If you have used the ADVFN website recently you may well have noticed the many new features which have been added. Since June 2004 we have continued to expand our world exchange offerings and have introduced data from a number of new countries and markets including: Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, Archipelago, GTIS Forex, Mexico, Chile, Australia, Spain, Italy, India, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Japan. We have very recently opened our new site ADVFNGold (www.advfngold.com), which is specifically designed for gold and other metals and provides worldwide coverage of platinum, silver, copper and diamond stocks. We are very excited with this as it is an active and topical market In our interim statement I mentioned that we were starting to look for possible acquisitions. We recently purchased Fotothing (www.fotothing.com) - a photo blogging site. Since joining the ADVFN group the site, which allows people to upload their pictures for friends, family and online communities to see, has expanded to over 35,000 and its rate of growth is increasing daily. This is not the only acquisition we have looked at and I hope to be able to announce the completion of a larger deal shortly. Cupidbay (www.cupidbay.com), which was purchased in July 2004, has grown strongly since it joined the group. It now has nearly 600,000 members from all over the world up from 200,000 last December. It is also very encouraging to note that at any point in the day thousands of people are actively using the service. We now own 48% of ALL IPO PLC (www.allipo.com) following the transaction announced last November. The first stage in getting ALL IPO operational was to receive approval from the FSA which we announced during August 2005. Its business has now started, with ALL IPO successfully completing its first IPO through the system. Although a small transaction, this allowed ALL IPO to prove the concept and ensure all its systems were in place and working successfully. ALL IPO has also recently received approval to passport its services into 11 European countries and, once established, I believe this will be a very active part of the group. ADVFN Japan was formed during the year and following the raising of Y501,000,000 for initial working capital, we now own just over 29% of the new business giving a derived value of over £10M for the whole or £3M for our share. ADVFN Japan now has a very impressive list of shareholders based in Japan and I hope this will soon lead to some interesting announcements. During the past year the staff at ADVFN has grown allowing us to develop more and better products which I trust our users have been able to benefit from. I would like to thank the whole ADVFN team for their hard work and effort. Michael J Hodges Chairman 10 October 2005 Managing Director's Review Operating Review Net profits after tax for the year were £1.01M compared to a loss last year of £254K as restated on turnover up 12% at £3.3M. We also have our first full year's earnings per share of 0.23p compared to last year's loss of 0.06p per share. Our EBITDA has continued its growth up by 21% to £678K from last year's £560K, as can be seen from the table below: 2005 2004 EBITDA - Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items £'000 £'000 Profit / (loss) before tax - per accounts 1,001 (261) Amortisation 260 260 Depreciation 621 573 Exceptional item - Impairment 1,027 - Exceptional item - profit on sale of subsidiary (2,202) - Net interest (29) (12) EBITDA 678 560 Our results have been helped by the exceptional profit gained on the sale of a subsidiary in connection with the launch of ALL IPO PLC and have been partly offset by the exceptional loss of £1.03M arising from an impairment review where we have prudently decided to write off a significant amount of our website development costs which leaves our balance sheet in good shape going forward. These results are very encouraging, especially considering the continued investment we have made in growing our platform and our brand across many more international markets. We are also very pleased with the continuing growth in our user numbers - up 46% from 370,000 at June 2004 to over 540,000 at June 2005. During the year we have strengthened our platform and position as Europe's leading stocks and shares website and are now also working to establish ourselves in many new markets. We have a joint venture business firmly established in Japan to exploit opportunities in the Japanese and Korean markets and this business has already independently raised £2.5M to finance its future growth. We are currently finalising a joint venture for the Brazilian market and are in negotiations for similar ventures in other areas. Current Trading Since June our user base has continued to expand and has already grown from 540,000 to over 580,000. Much of our turnover is long-term business, be it subscriptions or advertising. This profile gives us a solid and dependable base on which to grow. Advertising continues to perform well and subscriptions continue to develop along expected lines. The company is at full strength and staffed to grow and many of our overheads are focused on projects which will drive ADVFN forward in the coming periods. Prospects It is pleasing to note that our performance is not a function of past investments, but has been achieved against a background of record investment in ADVFN's future. The past year has seen a significant investment of time, effort and resources in ADVFN's future; both in expanding ADVFN's core offering and in acquiring or creating additional properties and interests which are complementary. Our expectations are that we will continue to grow along the lines of past performance and that we will increasingly stand to benefit from upside potential from opportunities we are creating both in new content and market expansion. While we are enjoying exciting developments, we continue to be careful incrementalists and as such have no plans for any high cost forays into uncharted territory. We look forward to the next 12-18 months with optimism as we believe ADVFN is now well placed to build upon the strong base it has created and expect it will be a most eventful period for the company. Clement Chambers Managing Director 10 October 2005 Consolidated Profit and Loss Account for the year ended 30 June 2005 2005 2005 2004 2004 Note £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 as as restated restated Turnover 3,303 2,951 Cost of sales (182) (128) Gross profit 3,121 2,823 Administrative expenses Exceptional item - impairment loss (1,027) - Other administrative expenses (3,252) (3,144) Total administrative expenses (4,279) (3,144) Operating loss (1,158) (321) Exceptional item: Profit on disposal of subsidiary 2,202 - Share of operating losses of associate (72) - Profit on sale of investments - 48 972 (273) Net interest 29 12 Profit/(loss) on ordinary activities before taxation 1,001 (261) Tax on profit/(loss) on ordinary activities 11 7 Profit/(loss) on ordinary activities after taxation 1,012 (254) Earnings/(loss) per ordinary 2 share Basic 0.23p (0.06p) Fully diluted 0.22p - All operations are continuing. Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses 2005 2004 £'000 £'000 Profit/(loss) for the financial year 1,012 (254) Prior year adjustment (273) - Total gains and losses recognised since last financial statements 728 (254) Balance Sheets at 30 June 2005 Group Company Group and company 2005 2005 2004 Note £'000 £'000 £'000 as restated Fixed assets Intangible assets 281 281 541 Tangible assets 1,180 820 1,139 Investments 2,150 20 - 3,611 1,121 1,680 Current assets Debtors 655 1,049 544 Investments 13 13 - Cash at bank and in hand 1,824 1,790 530 2,492 2,852 1,074 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (974) (974) (667) Net current assets 1,518 1,878 407 Total assets less current liabilities 5,129 2,999 2,087 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year (12) (12) - 5,117 2,987 2,087 Capital and reserves Called up share capital 4,618 4,618 4,070 Share premium account 5,403 5,403 3,933 Profit and loss account (4,904) (7,034) (5,916) Shareholders' funds - equity 3 5,117 2,987 2,087 The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 10 October 2005. Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the year ended 30 June 2005 2005 2004 Notes £'000 £'000 as restated Net cash inflow from operating activities 4 951 414 Returns on investment and servicing of finance Interest received 48 13 Interest paid (19) (1) 29 12 Taxation - 311 Capital expenditure Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets (1,666) (956) Payments to acquire investments (33) - Proceeds from disposal of fixed asset investment - 110 (1,699) (846) Net cash outflow before financing (719) (109) Financing Issue of ordinary share capital 2,139 18 Share issue costs (121) - Capital element of finance leases and hire purchase (5) - contracts repaid Net cash inflow from financing 2,013 18 Increase/(decrease) in cash 5,6 1,294 (91) Notes for the year ended 30 June 2005 1. General 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 2005 statutory financial statements upon which the auditors reported on 10 October 2005. Their 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. Copies of the annual report are being posted to shareholders and copies will be available from the company's registered office at 642a Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London, E10 6AP. 2. Earnings/(loss) per ordinary share The calculation of the basic earnings or loss per share is based on the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by the weighted average numbers of shares in issue during the year. The calculation of diluted earnings per share is based on the basic earnings per share, adjusted to allow for the issue of shares and the post tax effect of dividends and/or interest, on the assumed conversion of all dilutive options and other dilutive potential ordinary shares. Reconciliations of earnings and weighted average number of shares used in the calculation are set out below. 2005 2004 Number Earnings Number Loss of per of per Profit shares share Loss shares share £'000 '000 p £'000 '000 p as as restated restated Profit/(loss) for the year 1,012 (254) Weighted average number of shares 439,932 406,304 Basic earnings/(loss) per share 0.23p (0.06p) Number of shares under option 45,478 - Number of shares that would have been issued at average market value (20,096) - Diluted earning/(loss) per share 1,012 465,314 0.22p (254) 406,304 (0.06p) 3. Reconciliation of movements in shareholders' funds 2005 2005 2004 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 as as restated restated Profit/(loss) for the financial year 1,012 (254) Net receipts from issues of shares 2,018 18 Net increase/(decrease) in shareholders' funds 3,030 (236) Shareholders funds - a previously stated 2,360 2,421 Prior year adjustment (273) (98) Shareholders' funds at 1 July 2004 - as restated 2,087 2,323 Shareholders' funds at 30 June 2005 5,117 2,087 4. Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash inflow from operating activities 2005 2004 £'000 £'000 as restated Operating loss (1,158) (321) Exceptional item - impairment loss 1,027 - Amortisation 260 260 Depreciation 621 573 Increase in debtors (100) (138) Increase in creditors 301 40 Net cash inflow from operating activities 951 414 5. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds 2005 2004 £'000 £'000 Increase/(decrease) in cash for the year 1,294 (91) Inception of new finance leases and hire purchase agreements (23) - Cash outflow from capital repayments of hire purchase agreements 5 - Movement in net funds in the year 1,276 (91) Net funds at 1 July 2004 530 621 Net funds at 30 June 2005 1,806 530 6. Analysis of movements in net funds At Cash flow Non-cash items At 1 July 2004 30 June 2005 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Cash in hand and at bank 530 1,294 - 1,824 Finance leases and hire purchase agreements - 5 (23) (18) 530 1,299 (23) 1,806 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Companies

ADVFN (AFN)
UK 100
FTSE quotes by TradingView

Latest directors dealings

All directors dealings today