24th Oct 2006 07:00
Date: 24 October 2006 On behalf of: themutual.net plc ("TMN" or the "Group") themutual.net plc Update on Trading for the half year ending 31 October 2006 themutual.net plc (AIM: TMN), the UK's premier online direct marketing group, is pleased to announce a positive update for the six months ended 31st October prior to entering its close period. TMN Media, our online media division, manages the most comprehensive portfolio of email databases in the UK and now has over 10 million highly profiled, permission-based email addresses across 32 industry specific lists. This division has enjoyed high response rates and strong organic growth and there remains significant further growth potential within the current lists. Increased head count and resource have been placed with TMN Media, inline with our budgeted plans, to ensure that we are well placed to take advantage of growing online advertising spend. EDR, TMN's advertising agency specialising in email planning and buying, is enjoying growth ahead of our expectations, with key client wins in various sectors including Telecoms, Finance and Publishing. EDR is strategically well placed in the planning and buying of email advertising in the UK, with further technology developments in progress set to underpin its position as the premier email marketing agency in the UK. ID Factor, which focuses on providing online fieldwork solutions to the market research industry, has enjoyed a successful integration into our London offices, with revenues more than doubling since acquisition and with further growth expected in the second half of the year. The migration of fieldwork from traditional to online methods continues to drive market growth. TMN is also pleased to announce two new initiatives, both of which have strong synergies with our core operations: "TMN Enterprise" has been created to manage all new developments for the Group. The first development, launched in September, is a web-based lead generation system called "Lead It", designed to assist advertisers in building their databases. The first website to be launched using "Lead It" is www.plum-offers.com. This site can deliver high quality data for advertisers by allowing consumers to interact with the advertiser through the site. Early indications are very exciting and further developments are being planned. "ICD Research" has been established as an autonomous division providing clients with insight and analysis of market research data. Despite only being recently established, ICD Research has already been retained by World Press Group , a trade organisation of key international newspaper and magazine publishers, to measure the effectiveness of its national and international advertising. To better reflect the divisional structure, permission will be requested from shareholders at the next AGM to change the Company's name to TMN Group plc. The date of the AGM will be announced shortly. Mark Smith, CEO of TMN Group plc, commented: "We are very pleased with our first five months of trading, both in our core divisions and the recent initiatives. With recent reports from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) showing that internet advertising continuing to grow at circa 40% year-on-year, each of TMN's three core divisions enjoys a positive trading environment. Our performance continues to be in line with management expectations and we look forward to updating our shareholders further with our interim results which we are planning to release on 7th December." -ends- Enquiries to: TMN Mark Smith, CEO 020 7440 9310 Peter Coveney, Group Finance Director Redleaf Communications Emma Kane/Samantha Robbins/Duncan McCormick 020 7822 0200 Notes to Editors: * Themutual.net ("TMN") was established in 1999. * The Company comprises of three core divisions: * TMN Media: email marketing specialist, with over 10 million highly profiled, permission-based email addresses across over 30 lists, manages the most comprehensive portfolio of email databases in the UK. Also operator of the largest online reward scheme in the UK. Clients include Sky, T-Mobile, British Gas, EMAP, Volvo and Boots. * EDR: online interactive advertising agency, plans campaigns across dozens of third party lists, including those operated by TMN Media, and is the largest buyer of email advertising in the UK. Clients span a number of sectors, including finance, motoring, publishing and shopping. * The iD Factor: specialists in online market research, with 250,000 panel members in the UK and over 4 million members across 41 territories, managed via a network of local partnerships, allowing targeted domestic and international research. Clients include numerous MR Agencies, producing work for Microsoft, Lloyds TSB, NSPCC, Persil, Carlsberg and PC World. * Operating in rapidly growing market * Over £1.4 billion spent on internet advertising in 2005 - £917.2m spent during H1 2006, a 40.3% increase on a like-for-like basis compared with H1 2005 (Source: IAB) * Online advertising now represents over 10% of the total advertising market - and is the fastest-growing segment of the market (Source: IAB) * Online Retail spend predicted to reach £40 billion by 2010 (Source: Forrester Research) * Focus on dominating UK market in key areas of online advertising and market research * Members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and International Advertising Bureau (IAB)Related Shares:
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