30th Oct 2024 11:09
(Alliance News) - Time Out Group PLC on Wednesday said narrowed its annual loss during its 2024 financial year as costs reduced, and announced the launch of an GBP8 million share placing.
The London-based media and hospitality company narrowed its pretax loss for the financial year that ended June 30 to GBP8.5 million from GBP25.0 million the year before. Revenue, however, fell 1.4% to GBP103.1 million from GBP104.6 million.
The narrowed loss was driven primarily by cost of sales falling 10% to GBP38.4 million from GBP42.8 million, and administrative expenses decreasing 19% to GBP64.7 million from GBP79.4 million.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled to GBP12.4 million from GBP5.3 million last year.
Time Out on Wednesday also launched a share placing intended to raise around GBP8.0 million. Shares will be issued at 50 pence per share, which was 9.9% higher than the closing price of 45.5p on Friday. The company intends to use the proceeds to support its market expansion and investment into technology developments.
Shares in Time Out were up 7.7% at 49.02 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
Looking ahead, the company said it had a "clear plan to drive like-for-like growth in existing Markets, whilst continuing to convert the strong pipeline of potential new Market sites and large media advertising deals". It added that trading for financial 2025 remains in line with management expectations, but did not specify what its expectations were.
Time Out late on Friday announced it was in negotiations relating to a potential London Market site, in response to "recent media speculation". This would be in addition to the company's sites in cities such as New York, Lisbon and Cape Town. Time Out has not entered into any legally binding arrangements, so there can be no certainty that current negotiations will result in a subsequent opening.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Ohlund said: "The Time Out brand is a critical contributor to the success of both Media and Markets, and rather than view these businesses as two separate units, we believe there is substantial potential to increase synergies between the two and cement Time Out as a unique proposition, both for our audience and for our commercial partners.
"Time Out continues to be trusted and relevant as we inspire and enable millions of people every month to experience the best of the city. Our turnaround programme has transformed the Ebitda profitability of the group. We are now focused on executing our growth strategy."
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.