REG - Blackbird PLC - Interim Results
10/09/2024 07:00
For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240910:nRSJ4937Da&default-theme=true
RNS Number : 4937D Blackbird PLC 10 September 2024
10 September 2024
Blackbird plc
(the "Company")
Interim results
Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD), the technology licensor, developer and seller of
the market-leading cloud video editing platform, Blackbird(®), and developer
of the online multiplayer video editor, elevate.io, announces its interim
results for the six months ended 30 June 2024.
Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird plc, commented:
"During the six months ended 30 June 2024 we continued with our significant
investment in the transformation of the Company into a Product Led Growth
focused business.
"I am delighted to report excellent progress in the product development of
elevate.io. The platform progressed to general release in March 2024. In line
with successful product led growth ("PLG") companies in adjacent industries,
additional features, functionality and refinements of elevate.io are being
added continually. By 4 September 2024 we had circa 800 users and, following a
limited Google Ads campaign over the last five days, these numbers have more
than doubled to circa 1,800 users. This gives an indication of latent demand
and attractiveness of elevate.io's customer proposition. Free user acquisition
is also a vital next step in PLG. We are gaining valuable insights from this
growing user base.
"In building elevate.io we have leveraged our world-class technological video
know-how around smoothness of playback, navigation and speed, on top of proven
reliability. We also solved many difficult problems such as building a
multiplayer application that enables co-creation for our users and have built
the platform natively on the AWS public cloud, which gives us the ability to
easily scale and integrate with third party plug ins. This will help us drive
user retention and adoption, which will be accelerated through increased
marketing activity as we move towards launching a payment gateway, which is
expected in Q1 2025. Key recent items added to the platform include video
transformations and transitions.
"Although revenue for the six months to 30 June 2024 from our Blackbird
platform was down 30% on the prior period at £692K this was mainly due to the
previously announced deal losses of A+E Networks and Deltatre. Despite
challenges to this model, we continue to be used on the pinnacle of sports and
news content and, via our core dedicated team, landed new deals with CBS19 and
a South Korean broadcaster. In July and August 2024, through an OEM provider,
we were used by broadcasters around the globe for fast turnaround content at
the summer games. We are targeting break even for this division in 2024.
These prestigious, high pressure Blackbird use cases continue to provide the
proof points needed for the technology to succeed in the Creator Economy with
elevate.io.
"As we execute against our elevate.io strategy, it is important that we have
the necessary Board skills. I am absolutely thrilled that we have been able to
bring on board a best in class set of Non-Executive Directors led by Anne de
Kerckhove, who joined in March 2024 and became Chair of the Board in June
2024. Youri Hazanov joined in August 2024 and Nick Lisher, who is joining us
on 16 September 2024. Their expertise and experience across marketing,
digital, the Creator Economy and growing businesses will be invaluable as we
scale the business.
"We are very excited about the future and the huge size of the opportunity for
elevate.io which is in a market ripe for disruption. We look forward to
providing investors with further updates in due course."
Operational highlights (post period)
· Youri Hazanov joined the Board on 15 August 2024
as a Non-Executive Director. Youri is an experienced international Creator
Economy executive with a track record of growing businesses and a background
in technology, partnerships and marketing. Youri is currently General Manager
and Chief Partnerships Officer and member of the executive team at JellySmack
and previously led partnerships, business & strategy at YouTube in EMEA,
CEE, Russia, Israel and the Middle East
· Blackbird deployed at the summer games through an
OEM partner with up to 75 live concurrent feeds being used for fast turnaround
content for global broadcasters
· Nick Lisher is joining the Board on 16 September
2024 as a Non-Executive Director. Nick is a growth marketeer who has driven
performance marketing, community building, digital marketing, and innovative
brand development at a number of ecommerce companies including Flo Health,
Nextdoor and Depop
· Expansion at Blox with an additional three local
news stations taking the total to 72
· Successful renewals with US Department of State,
CBS Sports and Televisa Univision
Financial highlights (post period)
· £1,482k* secured revenue for 2024 as at 31
August 2024, down 18.3% vs prior year (2023 comparative: £1,813k)
· Contracted but unrecognised revenues of £1,299k*
as at 31 August 2024 (2023 comparative: £1,997k). £495k relates to 2024 and
£506k revenue relates to 2025 and the remainder to 2026
* Subject to exchange rate fluctuations
Operational highlights (during the period)
· elevate.io went on general release in March 2024
in accordance with the previously announced time frame
· elevate.io is being continually enhanced via a
rapid deployment method and during the period multiple features were added
including more transformations, transitions, editing controls, general
performance improvements and the addition of markers
· Anne de Kerckhove joined the Board on 6 March
2024 and became Chair of the Board following the AGM on 18 June 2024. Anne is
an experienced Board member and executive with a background in technology,
innovation and digital. Anne currently chairs the Board at Eagle Eye Solutions
Group and is a Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Nominations and
ESG committees at evoke plc
· Deal signed with CBS19, a Charlottesville-based
local TV station, for collaborative and scalable video editing and publishing
for its broadcast and digital workflow
· New deal, through an OEM partner, with a South
Korean TV station for fast turnaround of sports content to their OTT platform
· Successful renewals with NRL, Arsenal and Sky
News Arabia
Financial highlights (during the period)
· Placing and management subscription raised c.
£1.05 million (net of expenses) to bring onboard some engaged high net worth
investors and assist with elevate.io's growth
· Revenues of £692k for the six months to 30 June
2024, down 30% year on year (six months to 30 June 2023: £985k). The majority
of the decrease arose due to the previously announced deal losses of A+E
Networks and Deltatre
· Contracted but unrecognised revenues down 40%
year on year to £1,262k as at 30 June 2024 (£2,120k as at 30
June 2023) due to the one year less under contract from our major deals
· Decreased operating costs, excluding LTIP charge,
of £2,028k (six months to 30 June 2023: £2,442k), driven by restructuring of
the core Blackbird platform team in April 2023
· Reduced EBITDA loss of £1,408k (six months to 30
June 2023: £1,523k) due to lower operating costs partially offsetting lower
revenues as explained above
· Slightly reduced net loss before tax of £1,544k
(six months to 30 June 2023: £1,617k) due to reduced EBITDA loss and strong
net finance income
· Cash burn, excluding proceeds from share issues
and transfers from short term investments, decreased slightly to £1,900k (six
months to 30 June 2023: £1,921k) due to higher investment in elevate.io
offset by savings from restructuring of the Blackbird team
· Cash and short-term investments of £5,618k (30
June 2023: £8,177k) and no debt
Contacts:
Blackbird plc
Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245
Ian McDonough, Chief Executive Officer
Stephen White, Chief Operating and Financial Officer
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and
Broker) Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656
Nick Naylor / Piers Shimwell (Corporate Finance)
Amrit Nahal / Guy McDougall (Equity Sales and Corporate Broking)
About Blackbird plc
Blackbird plc operates in the fast-growing SaaS, Media and Entertainment and
content creation markets. Blackbird plc's patented technology allows for
frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing and editing in the cloud and it
has two products.
Blackbird(Ⓡ) a market leading suite of cloud-native computing applications,
is used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists,
live events and content owners, post production houses, other mass market
digital video channels and corporations.
elevate.io is the company's new browser-based collaborative content creation
platform currently in general release. elevate.io (http://elevate.io/) is
built using Blackbird's core technology and is aimed at professional teams and
the fast growing Creator Economy.
Blackbird plc also licences its core video technology, under its 'Powered by
Blackbird' licensing model, enabling video companies to accelerate their path
to true cloud business models.
www.blackbird.video (http://www.blackbird.video)
www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud
(http://www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud)
www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud (http://www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud)
www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc (http://www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc)
www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud (http://www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud)
Operational review
The period under review was a continuation of significant investment and
transformation for the Company.
The Company continued to make good progress against its product led growth
strategy for elevate.io, specifically:
• elevate.io went to general release in March 2024 in accordance
with the previously announced time frame;
• high hundreds of users were using the platform by the end of the
period and providing valuable insights and feedback;
• this elevate.io user base had grown to circa.800 by 4 September
2024 and, following a limited Google Ads campaign, has grown to circa1,800
users by 9 September 2024 showing strong demand for the user proposition;
• elevate.io is built on the AWS public cloud giving us the ability
to easily scale and integrate with third party plug ins;
• a period of engineering-focus leaning on our world-class
technological video know-how around smoothness of playback, navigation, and
speed, on top of proven reliability;
• solved difficult problems such as building a world-class
multiplayer experience on the back of a simple, easy-to-use interface; and
• adopted a rapid development deployment cycle leading to regular
updates of elevate.io adding functionality and features driving user retention
and adoption.
The Serviceable Addressable Market ("SAM") for elevate.io is $6.9billion and,
the Board believe, is ripe for disruption. As we have seen in parallel SaaS
industries there are huge rewards for companies who succeed.
On the Blackbird platform, commercial activity during the six months under
review included:
· a signed deal with CBS19, a Charlottesville-based
local TV station, for collaborative and scalable video editing and publishing
for its broadcast and digital workflow;
· a new deal, through an OEM partner, with a South
Korean TV station for fast turnaround of sports content to their OTT platform;
and
· successful deal renewals with NRL, Arsenal and
Sky News Arabia.
We continue to focus our resources on fast turnaround content from live feeds
in the sports and news markets which build on the Blackbird platform's
strengths. This is supported by a core team providing first-class customer
service. The Blackbird platform has previously been the main focus and drive
of our go to market strategy. However, each of our major accounts has often
required bespoke integrations which are both time-consuming and costly.
Combined with the pressures that major broadcasters face with diminishing
audience share and reduced advertising or subscription revenues, it has proved
a challenging task to grow our share of the Media and Entertainment
("M&E") services market. This is reflected in the H1 2024 revenue
decreasing compared to the prior period due to a number of previously
announced deal losses. The Board recognised the challenges of the M&E
market back in 2021 leading to a successful fundraise and a refocus of our
investment and resources into the creator space and elevate.io.
As the Company's strategy has evolved and the focus shifts towards elevate.io,
the Board needed to ensure the right skill sets are in place to execute our
product led growth strategy. Accordingly, there have been a number of changes
to the Board during the period with John Honeycutt and Dawn Airey leaving and
Anne de Kerckhove joining. Post period, Andrew Bentley has also retired from
the Board with Youri Hazanov and Nick Lisher joining.
Financial review
H1 2024 revenue decreased by 30% to £692k compared to the corresponding
period last year (six months to 30 June 2023 £985k). The majority of the
decrease can be explained by the A+E Networks and Deltatre deal losses. The
cyclical and structural changes in the M&E market continue to make this a
challenging environment.
Contracted but unrecognised revenue was £1,262k at 30 June 2024, a decrease
of 40% compared to 30 June 2023 (£2,120k) due to one year less in the order
book on our larger deals. Whilst we have started the post period well by
securing an extension to our CBS Sports deal and expanding our Blox contract,
there are still a few of our larger contracts to renew in H2 2024.
Operating costs, excluding LTIP charges, for the period decreased to £2,028k
versus £2,442k in the corresponding period. The year on year decrease
resulted predominantly from: i) restructuring costs being £121k higher in H1
2023 than H1 2024; ii) a net increase of £72k in development costs
capitalized in the current period compared to prior year period due to
increased work on elevate.io; iii) £70k lower events and marketing costs for
the Blackbird platform in the period compared to H1 2023; and iv) £78k lower
staff holiday cost accrual compared to prior year.
Adjusted EBITDA loss, excluding share option costs movement, of £1,387k (six
months to 30 June 2023: £1,513k) from lower operating costs partially offset
by lower revenues, as explained above.
EBITDA loss of £1,408k (six months to 30 June 2023: £1,523k) due to the
movement in Adjusted EBITDA loss, excluding share option costs and higher
share option expense in the period compared to prior year which included
credits from people leaving as the business was restructured.
The net loss for the period was £1,544k (2023: £1,617k). A lower EBITDA loss
was partially offset by a decrease in net financial income from higher average
cash balances in the prior period.
The Company raised c.£1,045k (net of expenses) in February 2024 from some
engaged high net worth investors who wanted to invest directly into our story
and from a subscription by management. The proceeds will be used to help fund
the early months of elevate.io's growth.
Cash burn in the period, excluding proceeds from share issues and transfers
from short-term investments, was £1,900k versus £1,921k in the same period
in 2023 driven by lower operating costs partially offset by lower revenues, as
explained above.
Outlook
There is continued momentum behind our product led growth strategy for
elevate.io, with a focus around quality engineering enhancing the platform and
driving user retention. There will be a shift towards increased marketing
activity to drive user adoption prior to a payment gateway in Q1 2025. The
Company is well positioned to execute its strategy with a world-class team in
place and funds of c.£5.6 million at 30 June 2024.
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE SIX MONTHS
ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
Half year to Half year to Year to
30 June 30 June 31 December
2024 2023 2023
£ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 691,643 985,115 1,937,481
Cost of Sales (49,681) (76,268) (124,918)
GROSS PROFIT 641,962 908,847 1,812,563
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (2,028,465) (2,421,622) (4,113,851)
ADJUSTED EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, (1,386,503) (1,512,775) (2,301,288)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA pre share option expense)
Employee share option costs (21,391) (10,028) (41,309)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) (1,407,894) (1,522,803) (2,342,597)
Depreciation (62,185) (87,358) (168,111)
Amortisation (220,498) (163,564) (416,691)
(282,683) (250,922) (584,802)
OPERATING LOSS (1,690,577) (1,773,725) (2,927,399)
Net Finance income 146,679 156,275 325,409
LOSS BEFORE INCOME TAX (1,543,898) (1,617,450) (2,601,990)
Income Tax - - 108,704
LOSS FOR THE PERIOD (1,543,898) (1,617,450) (2,493,286)
TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD (1,543,898) (1,617,450) (2,493,286)
Earnings per share expressed in pence per share:
Basic and diluted - continuing and total operations (0.40p) (0.44p) (0.68p)
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AT 30 JUNE 2024
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
30 June 30 June 31 December
2024 2023 2023
ASSETS £ £ £
NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Other intangible assets 3,132,916 1,904,198 2,547,305
Property, plant and equipment 20,448 149,128 78,192
3,153,364 2,053,326 2,625,497
CURRENT ASSETS
Trade and other receivables 396,142 415,339 699,829
Current tax assets 0 0 108,704
Short-term investments 2,342,039 2,653,780 2,489,009
Cash and bank balances 3,275,509 5,523,638 3,979,265
6,013,690 8,592,757 7,276,807
TOTAL ASSETS 9,167,054 10,646,083 9,902,304
EQUITY
Issued share capital 3,096,618 2,941,044 2,947,284
Share premium 34,980,224 34,038,746 34,079,856
Capital contribution reserve 125,000 125,000 125,000
Retained earnings (29,879,257) (27,512,196) (28,356,751)
8,322,585 9,592,594 8,795,389
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Lease - 77,100 -
Trade and other payables 844,469 976,389 1,106,915
844,469 1,053,489 1,106,915
TOTAL LIABILITIES 844,469 1,053,489 1,106,915
TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 9,167,054 10,646,083 9,902,304
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
Called up share capital Share premium Capital contribution reserve Retained earnings Total equity
£ £ £ £ £
Balance at 1 January 2023 2,941,044 34,038,746 125,000 (25,904,774) 11,200,016
Share based payment - - - 10,028 10,028
Total comprehensive income - - - (1,617,450) (1,617,450)
Balance at 30 June 2023 2,941,044 34,038,746 125,000 (27,512,196) 9,592,594
Changes in equity
Issue of share capital (net of expenses) 6,240 41,110 - - 47,350
Share based payment - - - 31,281 31,281
Total comprehensive income - - - (875,836) (875,836)
Balance at 31 December 2023 2,947,284 34,079,856 125,000 (28,356,751) 8,795,389
Changes in equity
Issue of share capital 149,334 900,368 - - 1,049,702
Share based payment - - - 21,391 21,391
Total comprehensive income - - - (1,543,898) (1,543,898)
Balance at 30 June 2024 3,096,618 34,980,224 125,000 (29,879,258) 8,322,584
UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
Half year to Half year to Year to 31
30 June 30 June December
2024 2023 2023
£ £ £
EBITDA (1,407,894) (1,522,803) (2,342,597)
Employee share option costs 21,391 10,028 (41,309)
Decrease in working capital 78,039 290,204 226,277
Cash used in operations (1,308,464) (1,222,571) (2,157,629)
Interest paid on lease liabilities - (2,158) (3,185)
Tax received 108,704 94,178 94,178
Net cash outflow from operating activities (1,199,760) (1,130,551) (2,066,636)
Cash flows from investing activities
Payments for intangible fixed assets (806,110) (809,906) (1,706,141)
Payments for property, plant and equipment (3,198) (34,280) (44,096)
Transfer from short-term investments 146,970 1,712,562 1,877,333
Interest received 138,004 102,089 236,634
Net cash (outflow) / inflow from investing activities (524,334) 970,465 363,730
Cash flows from financing activities
Share issue (net of expenses) 1,049,702 - 47,350
Payment of lease liabilities (29,364) (48,626) (97,529)
Net cash inflow / (outflow) from financing activities 1,020,338 (48,626) (50,179)
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents (703,756) (208,712) (1,753,085)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 3,979,265 5,732,350 5,732,350)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 3,275,509 5,523,638 3,979,265
NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED AND CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INTERIM ACCOUNTS
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
1. Basis of preparation and accounting policies
These interim statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with UK
adopted International Accounting Standards. They do not contain all of the
information required for full financial statements and should be read in
conjunction with the financial statements of the Company as at and for the
year ended 31 December 2023. These interim financial statements do not
constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of the Companies Act.
The interim financial information has not been audited. The interim financial
information was approved by the Board of Directors on 9 September 2024. The
information for the year ended 31 December 2023 is extracted from the
statutory financial statements for that year which have been reported on by
the Company's auditors and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The audit
report was unqualified and did not contain a statement under s498 (2) or
498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.
The accounting policies applied by the Company in these interim financial
statements are the same as those applied by the Company in its financial
statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.
2. Divisional breakdown
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2024
Blackbird Corporate elevate.io Total
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Half year to Half year to Half year to Half year to
30 June 2024 30 June 2024 30 June 2024 30 June 2024
£ £ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 691,643 - - 691,643
Cost of Sales (49,681) - - (49,681)
GROSS PROFIT 641,962 - - 641,962
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (823,550) (518,222) (686,693) (2,028,465)
Adjusted EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, (181,588) (518,222) (686,693) (1,386,503)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA before share option costs)
Employee share option costs - (21,391)
(21,391)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) (181,588) (539,613) (686,693) (1,407,894)
FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2023
Blackbird Corporate elevate.io Total
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Half year to Half year to Half year to Half year to
30 June 2023 30 June 2023 30 June 2023 30 June 2023
£ £ £ £
CONTINUING OPERATIONS
Revenue 985,115 - - 985,115
Cost of Sales (76,268) - - (76,268)
GROSS PROFIT 908,847 - - 908,847
Operating costs excluding LTIP provision (1,351,015) (566,219) (504,388) (2,421,622)
Adjusted EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION, (442,168) (566,219) (504,388) (1,512,775)
EMPLOYEE SHARE OPTION COSTS (Adjusted EBITDA before share option costs)
Employee share option costs
- (10,028) - (10,028)
EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXATION, DEPRECIATION, AMORTISATION (EBITDA) (442,168) (576,247) (504,388) (1,522,803)
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
. END IR UPUUCBUPCGQBRecent news on Blackbird
See all newsRCS - Blackbird PLC - Blackbird selected for Innovate UK's GBIP
AnnouncementREG - Blackbird PLC - elevate.io surpasses 10,000 verified users
AnnouncementREG - Blackbird PLC - Director/PDMR Shareholding
AnnouncementREG - Blackbird PLC - Grant of share options
AnnouncementREG - Blackbird PLC - Interim Results
Announcement