8th Jun 2020 11:31
(Alliance News) - Ocean Outdoor Ltd on Monday swung to a loss for 2019 and said it is still not possible to forecast the impact of coronavirus on the company's performance despite some positive signs of activity picking up.
The London-based out-of-home advertising company decided against providing a guidance for 2020 saying that it has implemented a series of measures like reducing staff working week, cutting all discretionary spend and implementing furlough schemes to protect "jobs and staff".
"In line with the easing of restrictions, Ocean Outdoor Netherlands reopened at its Amsterdam HQ on 11 May 2020. Ocean Group and UK headquarters in London reopened on May 25, 2020, with a managed phased return to safeguard employees and clients," Ocean Outdoor said.
"Ocean's Sweden business has continued to operate its office as normal throughout the period. Work to consolidate our operations in the Nordics has been fast-tracked with the full integration of AdCityMedia with Ocean in Sweden following its acquisition last year," the company added.
Ocean Outdoor a 4% drop in revenue for the first quarter of 20220 to GBP27.4 million on a pro-forma basis, with core UK market flat year-on-year.
For 2019, the London-based company recorded a pretax loss of GBP4.7 million versus pretax profit of GBP6.9 million a year ago.
The swung to loss was primarily due to a sharp jump in finance expense - interest payable on lease liability & interest on contingent consideration for acquisitions - to GBP8.2 million from GBP4,000. The company completed five acquisitions during 2019.
Annual revenue, however, more than doubled to GBP104.0 million from GBP49.8 million due to a surge in billings, which totalled GBP135.1 million versus GBP70.3 million.
At May 28, the company had cash of GBP32 million and liquidity of GBP67 million.
Shares in Ocean Outdoor were un-traded at USD6.70 each in London on Monday morning.
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
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