(EBQ.L) Ebiquity PLC Buy/Sell

Return to reported profitability with underlying* operating profit up 17%

Investing in future growth from well funded, cash generative business

Michael Greenlees, Chief Executive, said:

"This has been a strong year that has seen the return to reported profitability. Our Analytics division has grown substantially with sales growing 13% benefitting from increased international reach now servicing over 40 clients in up to 20 different markets globally.

Our business is both well funded and our underlying Platform business highly cash generative allowing us to actively invest in our future. We remain positive about our future prospects."

22 July 2009

Enquiries:

Ebiquity PLC Tel. +44 (0)20 7650 9600

Michael Greenlees, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Beach, Chief Financial Officer

Numis Securities Limited Tel. +44 (0)20 7260 1000

Nick Westlake (NOMAD) / David Poutney

College Hill Tel. +44 (0)20 7457 2020

Matthew Smallwood Jamie Ramsay

Chairman's statement

The year to 30 April 2009 cannot be commented upon without reference to the economic environment that we and our clients have faced. The period has seen, amongst other things, the financial services sector plunged into crisis, emerging only now into a period of fragile equilibrium. However, no sector has been immune from this recession and there will inevitably be a long tail of corporate crises and failures yet to come, as the UK and the other major economies creep slowly out of this economic mire.

We entered this year with the business poised for material growth. The outturn has been one of steady progress which in the circumstances is extremely commendable. This progress has demonstrated the value we provide to our clients and has highlighted the need for all marketing spend to be subject to professional and critical monitoring and evaluation. Our clients now recognise that in the increasingly complex world of marketing, our independent advice and analysis is both a necessary and valuable contribution to their business.

Following just over 9 years service, Fiona Driscoll is stepping down from the Board at the end of July. Fiona joined the Board just before the company was floated and has been on both the audit committee and remuneration committees throughout. She also stood in as Chairman for some months prior to my appointment. On behalf of the current Board, and most particularly the founders of the business, I must thank Fiona for her substantial contribution to the company's development and stewardship throughout her tenure on the Board.

I am delighted that Richard Nichols has joined the Board during the year. He brings his previous experience not only as a former quoted company finance director to the audit committee, but also his extensive past and present experience in running significant businesses in the communications and marketing services sectors to the Board. Richard has joined both the audit and remuneration committees.

Our progress has only been possible because of the commitment of all our people, and on behalf of the Board I must thank them for their continued commitment and contribution to the business.

The business has grown and developed through a period of unprecedented uncertainty and economic difficulty. The outlook is clearly better now than it was even a few months ago and our value to our clients businesses will, we believe, enable us to progress in advance of the general economic revival. Having said this, we will combine our optimism for our business with a cautious view on the general economic outlook.

Michael Higgins Chairman

21 July 2009

Chief Executive's Review

Overview

I am pleased to report that this has been a year of solid progress.

Total revenue for the year to 30 April 2009 was up 7% to £18.4 million compared to the prior year. At the same time Group underlying operating profit (before highlighted items) was up 17% to £2.4 million.

Reported operating profit showed a significant turn-around at £1.4 million compared to a loss of £1.1 million for the prior year.

Underlying diluted earnings per share were up 20% to 5.28p.

Investing for future growth

As our company grows in strength and profitability, we are increasingly investing for future growth. We have recently begun to take steps to build both our international capabilities and to lay foundations for a stronger domestic performance in the future. This will enable us to deliver strong new revenue streams in the years to come.

Our international work within our Analytics business has continued to demonstrate strong growth and now accounts for 33% (2008: 26%) of total Group revenues and 47% (2008: 39%) of our Analytics business.

International client assignments have been the main driver of this performance, which has been fuelled by a growing demand for our services in the US, across Europe and increasingly in Asia Pacific, as an increasing number of global advertisers seek to build on our best practice approach to media and marketing effectiveness.

In the past year, our US office, based in New York, has carved out a significant position as the leader in media performance evaluation and now works with a number of large domestic and international advertisers.

As a consequence we have taken a number of carefully planned steps to strengthen our international capabilities to maximise this growing opportunity.

In Spain, we have negotiated an option to buy a 25% interest in Media Value, one of the country's fastest growing media performance consultancies, now called Billetts Media Value. In Germany, we have invested in Billetts Germany, which is already working with a number of significant local and international clients and is on track to make a significant contribution to our overall group performance in 2010/11.

Elsewhere we work through a federation of 'partner' offices across the world. This continues to serve us well, and we are able to work with global clients in up to twenty countries worldwide. The average number of clients we work with across the 12 major global markets has increased by over 50%.

Our clients demand the highest level of transparency, data integrity and a consistent methodology and it is for this reason that we plan to take prudent steps to further strengthen our network of international offices.

On the domestic front we continue to invest in Newslive 2.0, our new editorial monitoring platform. Editorial monitoring is a significant UK market and one that has perhaps never been more relevant given the growth in corporate scrutiny by the news media and the negative (and positive) impact such scrutiny can have on both corporate and personal reputations.

Our data capture operation in Bromley makes us perfectly suited to build on our world leading advertising monitoring business to address an adjacent and far larger market.

We launched Newslive 2.0 into beta test in November 2008 and this gave us sufficient confidence to move to a full launch in May 2009. Our expectations are that Newslive will begin to make a contribution to profits during 2010/11.

Chief Executive's Review (continued)

Our business environment and economic impact

While it is impossible to understate the impact of the global recession on businesses generally, there is little doubt that the downturn can present marketers with significant opportunities to improve their media and marketing performance.

Media prices have been tumbling across the world as reduced budgets have led to contracting demand for advertising in most categories. The good news for advertisers is that they can achieve real cost savings in most markets.

Yet paradoxically, despite falling media prices, media and marketing planning has never been more complex and the opportunities for inefficiencies and waste never greater. It is this paradox that has led to advertisers demanding greater discipline in understanding the real return they can achieve for their media and marketing spend. It is this dynamic that is fuelling the growth of our Analytics business as more and more advertisers turn to us for advice and counsel. With the UK's largest media database and real time insights into media and market changes, we are frequently best equipped to provide clear independent advice.

Whilst our Analytics business has perhaps benefited from our clients placing a higher than usual emphasis on ensuring maximum media and marketing effectiveness and stronger return on their marketing investment, other parts of our business have performed less well.

Our advertising monitoring business has suffered from a negative impact on renewals as a result of many clients cutting advertising spend, increased corporate consolidations reducing available contracts and an ailing car industry. As a result renewal levels for the year have reduced to 84% (2008: 92%), which although someway behind what we expected this time last year remains reasonably good with continuing strength particularly coming from the retail sector where swift reaction to a competitor's activity remains a key business driver.

Outlook

The coming year will continue to be difficult economically and we will continue to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure we emerge from this recession even stronger than before.

Our priority is to continue to build a strong, growing and sustainable revenue stream by developing more ways to help our clients. To achieve this, however, will require investments that, in the short term at least, will result in some margin depression.

Having said this, we have much to feel positive about:

Overall, therefore, we have many reasons to remain positive about our future prospects.

Michael Greenlees

Chief Executive Officer

21 July 2009
Financial Review

Ebiquity plc is publishing its final results for the year ended 30 April 2009.

a. Revenue

Year ended 30 April Year ended 30 April

£'000 £'000
Analytics 12,786 11,310
Platform 5,633 5,910
Total Revenue 18,419 17,220

Since last years Annual Report, our "Consulting Services" division has been renamed "Analytics" (and consists of our marketing effectiveness and media auditing and consultancy practices) and our "Technology & Data" division as "Platform" (which consists of advertising and editorial monitoring and our ePublisher business).

Total Group revenue increased by 7% to £18.4 million (2008: £17.2 million). This growth was driven by the Analytics division where revenue increased by 13% to £12.8 million, and now represents 69% of total Group revenue (2008: 66%). Within this division, revenue from international audit assignments (defined as non UK sourced revenue, or UK sourced revenue where marketing activity is analysed in more than one country) grew by 36% to £6.1m.

Revenue from the smaller Platform division was down 5%. This was in part due to a softening in the renewal rate (by value) to 84% (2008: 92%) and also due to a slow down in new sales of our advertising monitoring platform. Newslive 2.0, our newly launched editorial monitoring platform, has seen some sales traction, but these sales are not at this stage significant enough to make a notable impact on the division's revenue performance.

b. Gross Profit

Gross profit for the period was up 9% to £9.8m (2008: £9.0m), yielding an improved gross margin of 53% (2008: 52%).

The Analytics gross profit has improved from £5.5m to £6.9m, with margins increasing from 49% to 54%. The margin increase principally reflects the uplift in revenues, together with tight control of data costs, offset by some increase in headcount.

The Platform gross profit has reduced from £3.4m to £3.0m, with margins decreasing from 58% to 53%. The margin decrease reflects the fall in revenue driven by our advertising monitoring platform (down £277,000), together with investment in staff and production costs primarily to service the launch of Newslive 2.0 (up £147,000).

Financial Review (continued)

c. Operating Profit

Profit before highlighted items is termed "underlying operating profit". Certain items have been highlighted because separate disclosure is considered relevant in understanding the underlying performance of the business.

Year ended 30 April 2009 Year ended 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000
Analytics 3,241 1,857
Platform (355) 419
Central costs (523) (259)
Underlying operating profit 2,363 2,017
Highlighted items (933) (3,140)
Reported operating 1,430 (1,123)

profit/(loss)

Underlying operating profit was £2.4m (2008: £2.0m), representing an 17% increase over the prior year. The reported operating result has seen a turnaround to a profit of £1.4m (2008: £1.1m loss).

Our Analytics division has continued to perform well with increased revenues from a well managed cost base. At the gross profit level, we have seen an increase of £1,311,000 as explained above. Administrative expenses have decreased by £75,000, primarily as a result of a decrease in central overhead allocations and a movement in foreign exchange gains.

Our Platform division has performed less well with reduced revenues from advertising monitoring, together with planned investment in the launch of Newslive 2.0. At the gross profit level, we have seen a decrease of £425,000 as explained above. Administrative expenses have increased by £349,000, primarily as a result of an increase in headcount costs to set Newslive up for future growth in our advertising monitoring platform.

Central costs consist of legal and advisory expenses not attributable to the divisions and Board director time spent on strategic planning, together with foreign exchange movements on a US dollar loan to our US subsidiary, Billetts America LLC. This loan, totalling $1.7m, generated a gain of £292,000 in the current financial year (2008: £3,000 loss). The remainder of the increase represents an increased group-wide strategic focus by the Board directors.

During the year we have taken the decision to write off capitalised development costs with a carrying value of £106,000, most of which related to projects associated with the advertising monitoring platform following a slow down in new sales. These costs have been allocated to the appropriate divisions.

Financial Review (continued)

Highlighted Items

Year ended Year ended
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
Cash Non- Total Cash Non-cash Total
cash
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Recurring:
Share based expenses - 313 313 - 99 99
Amortisation of purchased - 362 362 - 369 369

intangibles

Non recurring:
Restructuring costs 258 - 258 521 - 521
Development costs write off - - - - 1,457 1,457
Property costs - - - 548 (90) 458
Other costs - - - 236 - 236
258 - 258 1,305 1,367 2,672
Total highlighted items 258 675 933 1,305 1,835 3,140

The restructuring costs of £258,000 relate primarily to a realignment of our senior management structure, closure of our Spanish office following investment in a replacement venture, and a reduction of the operations workforce due to reduced workload.

d. Profit before tax and EPS

30 April 2009 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000
Reported operating profit/(loss) 1,430 (1,123)
Net finance costs (243) (250)
Share of loss of associates (14) -
Profit/(loss) before tax 1,173 (1,373)

Net finance costs were £243,000 (2008: £250,000) which reflects a broadly flat level of gross debt over the period.

Loss from associates represents our share of the losses of Billetts Germany GmbH, a company in which we have a 10% stake.

Underlying profit before tax was up 19% to £2.1m (2008: £1.8m). Reported profit before tax has turned around to £1.2m (2008: £1.4m loss).

Financial Review (continued)

Underlying diluted earnings per share was 5.28p (2008: 4.39p). Reported diluted earnings per share was 0.26p (2008: 4.00p loss).

The Board is not currently recommending the payment of a dividend, reflecting the growth nature of the Group and the opportunities for further development, particularly internationally.

e. Cash and Debt

As at As at
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000
Cash 1,246 1,687
Loans to associates 362 -
Debt (3,800) (3,751)
Net Debt (2,192) (2,064)

Net cash from operating activities for the year was £0.8m (2008: £1.8m), reflecting the decrease in trade creditors and other payables which were high at 30 April 2008 as the result of office relocation and restructuring activity late in the financial year.

Against the backdrop of the current economic environment, we have placed significant emphasis on cash generation and collections. Cash collection during the year was up 3% on the prior year. Our focus on this area has had notable impact. Debtor days have reduced to 62 days, down from 65 days as at 30 April 2008.

Loans to associates reflect loans made to Billetts Germany GmbH. The full balance is repayable on demand.

Gross debt remains broadly flat (up £0.05m) since a further £0.5m was drawn down from our revolving credit facility but scheduled payments of £0.45 million were made to the bank and loan note holders. The net debt position has remained broadly flat at £2.2 million (2008: £2.1 million), despite positive operating cash flows, because of "one off" spends on office relocation (£254,000) and management restructuring (£436,000). During the year, the Group also invested £511,000 in intangible assets (capitalised development work).

The Group continues to trade comfortably within all of its banking facilities and covenants. As at 30 April 2009, the Group had bank revolving credit facilities totalling £3.0m, of which £1.0m remains unutilised.

Andrew Beach Chief Financial Officer

21 July 2009
Consolidated Income Statement

for the year ended 30 April 2009

Year ended Year ended
30 April 30 April 2008

Note £'000 £'000
Revenue 18,419 17,220
Cost of Sales (8,574) (8,261)
Gross Profit 9,845 8,959
Administrative expenses - excluding (7,482) (6,942)

highlighted items
Administrative expenses - highlighted 2 (933) (3,140)

items
Total administrative expenses (8,415) (10,082)
Operating profit before highlighted items 3 2,363 2,017
Administrative expenses - highlighted 2 (933) (3,140)

items
Operating profit/(loss) 1,430 (1,123)
Finance income 25 62
Finance expenses (268) (312)
Net finance costs (243) (250)
Share of loss of associates (14) -
Profit/(loss) before taxation 1,173 (1,373)
Tax (expense)/income 4 (1,084) 97
Profit/(loss) for the year 89 (1,276)

Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent 87 (1,276)
Minority interests 2 -
89 (1,276)

Earnings/(loss) per share
Basic 5 0.27 (4.00)p
Diluted 5 0.26 (4.00)p
Consolidated Balance Sheet

as at 30 April 2009
30 April 30 April

Note £'000 £'000

Non current assets
Goodwill 8,754 8,754
Other intangible assets 6 2,795 2,876
Property, plant & equipment 971 882
Investment in joint ventures 115 115
Investment in associates 17 -
Loans and other financial assets 77 -
Deferred tax asset 142 979
Total non current assets 12,871 13,606

Current assets
Trade & other receivables 5,932 5,753
Cash & cash equivalents 1,246 1,687
Loans and other financial assets 362 -
Total current assets 7,540 7,440
Total assets 20,411 21,046

Current liabilities
Other financial liabilities (2,513) (1,951)
Trade & other payables (1,852) (2,273)
Current tax liabilities (306) (226)
Provisions (51) (156)
Accruals & deferred income (4,266) (4,703)
Total current liabilities (8,988) (9,309)

Non current liabilities
Other financial liabilities (1,332) (1,800)
Provisions (99) (65)
Deferred tax liability (565) (667)
Total non current liabilities (1,996) (2,532)
Total liabilities (10,984) (11,841)
Total net assets 9,427 9,205

Capital & reserves
Share capital 8,035 8,035
Share premium 1,846 1,846
Merger reserve (4,504) (4,504)
Translation reserve (117) 63
Retained earnings 4,167 3,765

Capital and reserves attributable to the equity
holder of the parent 9,427 9,205
Minority interest - -
Total equity 9,427 9,205

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 21 July 2009 and were signed on its behalf by:

Michael Greenlees Andrew Beach
Director Director
Consolidated Cashflow Statement

for the year ended 30 April 2009

Year ended Year ended
30 April 30 April

£'000 £'000

Cashflows from operating activities
Profit/(loss) before taxation 1,173 (1,373)

Adjustments for:
Depreciation 364 333
Amortisation 487 434
Capitalised development costs write off 106 1,457
Foreign exchange gain on intercompany balances (298) -
Share option charges 313 99
Finance income (25) (62)
Finance expenses 268 312
Call/put options valuation (net) (6) -
Share of loss of associates 14 -
2,396 1,200
Increase in trade receivables (10) (41)
(Decrease)/increase in trade payables (951) 849
(Decrease)/increase in provisions (71) 3
Cash generated from operations 1,364 2,011
Finance expenses (268) (312)
Income taxes (paid)/refunded (269) 107
Net cash from operating activities 827 1,806

Cashflows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant & equipment (454) (610)
Purchase of intangible assets (511) (335)
Purchase of investments (26) (128)
Purchase of investments in associates (17) -
Grant of loan to associates (362) -
Finance income 25 62
Net cash used in investing activities (1,345) (1,011)

Cashflows from financing activities
Proceeds from issue of share capital - 104
Proceeds from long term borrowings 1,113 -
Repayment of bank loans (1,013) (863)
Loan note settlement (51) (443)
Net cashflow used in financing activities 49 (1,202)
Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and bank (469) (407)

overdrafts
Effect of unrealised foreign exchange gains 28 (11)

Cash, cash equivalents and bank overdraft at
beginning of period 1,687 2,105

Cash, cash equivalents and bank overdraft at
end of period 1,246 1,687
Notes to the consolidated financial statements

1. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

These consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, International Accounting Standards and Interpretations (collectively IFRSs) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) as adopted by European Union (Adopted IFRSs) and with those parts of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies preparing their financial statements under Adopted IFRSs.

2. Highlighted items

Highlighted items comprise significant non-cash charges and non-recurring items which are highlighted in the income statement because separate disclosure is considered relevant in understanding the underlying performance of the business.

Year ended Year ended
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
Cash Non- Total Cash Non-cash Total
cash
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Recurring:
Share based expenses - 313 313 - 99 99
Amortisation of purchased - 362 362 - 369 369

intangibles

Non recurring:
Restructuring costs 258 - 258 521 - 521
Development costs write off - - - - 1,457 1,457
Property costs - - - 548 (90) 458
Other costs - - - 236 - 236
258 - 258 1,305 1,367 2,672
Total highlighted items 258 675 933 1,305 1,835 3,140

The restructuring costs of £258,000 relate primarily to a realignment of our senior management structure, closure of our Spanish office following investment in a replacement venture, and a reduction of the operations workforce due to reduced workload.

Notes to the consolidated financial statements (continued)

3. Operating profit

Operating profit is stated after charging/(crediting):

Year to Year to
30 April 30 April

£'000 £'000

Operating lease rentals

4. Taxation

Year ended Year ended
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000

UK tax
Current year 420 108
Prior year (80) 115

Foreign tax
Current year 9 -
Total current tax 349 223

Deferred tax
Origination and reversal of temporary 735 (202)

differences
Rate change - 22
Prior year - (140)

Total tax expense/(income) 1,084 (97)
Notes to the consolidated financial statements (continued)

The difference between tax as charged in the financial statements and tax at the nominal rate is explained below:

Year ended Year ended
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000
Profit/(loss) before tax 1,173 (1,373)
Corporation tax at 28% (2008: 30%) 328 (412)
Non deductible taxable expenses 36 98
Overseas tax rate differential (5) -
Overseas losses unrecognised 4 55
Capital allowances 4 (26)
Additional deduction for R&D expenditure (47) -
Effect of rate change - 22
Over provision of current and prior year tax (80) (156)
Other temporary differences 844 322
Total tax expense/(income) 1,084 (97)

5. Earnings per share

The calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the following data:

Year ended Year ended
30 April 2009 30 April 2008
£'000 £'000
Earnings/(loss) for the purpose of basic 87 (1,276)

earnings per share being net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent

Adjustments:
Deferred tax 735 (320)
Highlighted items - recurring1 675 467
Highlighted items - non recurring1 258 2,673
Earnings for the purpose of underlying earnings 1,755 1,544

per share

Number of shares:
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for 32,139,435 31,877,389

the purpose of basic earnings per share

Effect of dilutive potential ordinary shares
Share options2 1,082,978 3,255,634
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for 33,222,413 35,133,023

the purpose of diluted earnings per share

Basic earnings/(loss) per share 0.27 (4.00)p
Diluted earnings/(loss) per share2 0.26 (4.00)p
Underlying basic earnings per share 5.46 4.84p
Underlying diluted earnings per share2 5.28 4.39p
Notes to the consolidated financial statements (continued)

1. Highlighted items (see note 2).

2. Note that certain share options have been excluded from the calculation of diluted EPS as their exercise price is greater than the weighted average share price during the year (i.e. they are out-of-the-money) and therefore it would not be advantageous for the holders to exercise those options. 1,601,673 (2008: 400,862) share options have not been included within the diluted earnings per share calculation at 30 April 2009 as they are anti-dilutive for the periods presented. These shares could potentially dilute earnings per share in the future.

There have been no movement in shares since the balance sheet date.

Since the balance sheet date 326,800 share options were issued to employees of the Group.

6. Other intangible assets

Capitalised Purchased Total
development costs intangible intangible
assets assets
£'000 £'000 £'000

Cost
At 1 May 2007 3,488 3,395 6,883
Additions 335 - 335
Write off (3,251) - (3,251)
At 1 May 2008 572 3,395 3,967
Additions 511 - 511
Write off (131) - (131)
At 30 April 2009 952 3,395 4,347

Amortisation
At 1 May 2007 (1,805) (646) (2,451)
Provision for the year (66) (368) (434)
Write off 1,794 - 1,794
At 1 May 2008 (77) (1,014) (1,091)
Provision for the year (125) (362) (487)
Write off 26 - 26
At 30 April 2009 (176) (1,376) (1,552)

Net book value
At 30 April 2009 776 2,019 2,795
At 30 April 2008 495 2,381 2,876
At 30 April 2007 1,683 2,749 4,432

7. Financial information

The financial information set out in this announcement does not constitute the company's statutory accounts for the years ended 30 April 2009 or 30 April 2008. Statutory accounts for the years ended 30 April 2009 and 30 April 2008 have been reported on by the Independent Auditors. The Independent Auditor's Report on the Annual Report and Financial Statement for the year ended 30 April 2009 was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report, and did not contain a statement under 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006. The Independent Auditor's Report on the Annual Report and Financial Statement for the year ended 30 April 2008 was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report, and did not contain a statement under 237(2) or 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 30 April 2009 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the company's annual general meeting. Statutory accounts for the year ended 30 April 2008 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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