1st Jun 2006 07:01
Vitesse Media PLC01 June 2006 Vitesse Media plc Chairman's Statement for the year ending 31 January 2006; Trading Update for thefirst quarter 06/07; Acquisition of Blue Chip Publishing Ltd; Placing Highlights: •Major web sites redesigned and traffic increased by over 350% •Online advertising revenues for the first quarter increased by 50 %; overall revenues are up by over 35 % •Strategic review of online activities has identified a number of major opportunities to expand our main existing sites and to redevelop our other web addresses •Cash at the year end was £465k •Profitable new events launched during the financial year 2005/6 •Acquisition of Blue Chip Publishing Ltd, publisher of M & A Magazine, for a nominal consideration •Placing to raise £500k. Trading update for first quarter 2006/7 The heavy investment in our online assets and new events made during the lastfinancial year are now beginning to bear fruit. Visitors to our three big websites, GrowthCompany.co.uk, GrowthBusiness.co.uk and SmallBusiness.co.uk haveincreased significantly - visitors for January to end March 2006 are up by 361%.In March 2006, GrowthCompany.co.uk received over 140,000 users,SmallBusiness.co.uk nearly 105,000 and GrowthBusiness.co.uk over 40,000. Thelaunch of the London Business School channel on this latter site caused aconsiderable amount of interest and increased traffic. Revenues for the first quarter, 1 February to 30 April 2006, are over 35% higherthan the same period last year; particularly noteworthy is the amount of onlineadvertising placed on our three big web sites, GrowthCompany.co.uk,GrowthBusiness.co.uk and SmallBusiness.co.uk, which is up by 50 per cent. As a result of the investment in our online products we expect during thecurrent year that online activities will account for 28 per cent of revenues,events 41%, print publications 24% and miscellaneous 7%. Higher overall revenues have resulted in a significant improvement to theoperating results. The first quarter has traditionally been a loss-making periodbut the loss compared to last year almost halved. Prospects for our online products for the rest of the financial year 2006/7 arestrong. We have conducted a strategic review and are expeditiously pushingthrough expansion plans for our three big sites, plus re-launchingTaxGuide.co.uk and AimGuide.co.uk. Review of activities for the financial year ending 31 January 2006 The year proved to be one of considerable transformation and investment torecoup the loss of revenue caused by the withdrawal of three contracts fromLloyds TSB, totalling nearly £500,000. Excluding the loss of this revenue meansthat the rest of the business grew by over 25%, a good achievement during aperiod of management change, sales team expansion and heavy investment in onlineinfrastructure and new events. The size of the loss before tax for the financial year (£606,000) is a greatdisappointment to our shareholders and to our management team. However, theconsiderable investment and restructuring should result in a much stronger andmore stable business in the years ahead. The range of customers continues togrow and is now much more widely spread so that no one business accounts for anunduly large proportion of our revenues. During the year, the finance team managed our cash balances well so that weended the financial year with around £465k in the bank. Acquisition of Blue Chip Publishing Ltd Vitesse Media plc is pleased to announce the completion on 31 May 2006 of theacquisition of Blue Chip Publishing Ltd, publisher of M & A Magazine and theonline directory MAIN Index. There is a nominal initial consideration and animmediate settlement of about £165,000 of debt. If profits of the company exceed£100,000 in the twelve months beginning 1 June 2006, share options will begranted to the vendors up to a maximum of 1.5 million options at the prevailingmarket price if profits exceed £360,000. The vendors, Steve Anstey and AndrewChilvers, will stay with the business which is based in Birmingham and has 16employees. M & A Magazine is a very good fit with our titles,GrowthBusiness.co.uk and Business XL magazine, and there are severalopportunities for sharing content. Additionally, on the events side, we will beable to use our skills to enable the existing management team of Blue Chip toextend the M & A brand. Revenue for the year ending 30 April 2005 was £1.05 million and operating losseswere £24,000; unaudited management accounts for the 10 months ending 28 February2006 show revenues of £791k and profits of £19k. Placing Vitesse Media plc announces the placing of 2,173,911 new ordinary shares at 23pper share (the "Placing") which will rank pari passu with the existing ordinaryshares and are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on 6 June 2006. Under the Placing, Artemis Aim VCT will subscribe for 869,565 shares and threedirectors of Vitesse Media plc will subscribe for shares as follows: SaraWilliams, Chief Executive Officer, for 445,652 shares, Chris Ingram,Non-executive director for 326,086 shares, and Peter Williams, Non-executivedirector, for 97,826 shares. As a result of the Placing, Artemis Aim VCT will hold 2,536,232 sharesrepresenting 14% of the enlarged issued share capital, Sara Williams 6,786,261shares (37.4%), Chris Ingram 2,305,253 shares (12.7%) and Peter Williams1,069,993 shares (5.9%). The proceeds of the Placing, £500,000 in total, will be used to pay off theimmediate liabilities of the acquired business Blue Chip Publishing Ltd and toprovide working capital for the combined business going forward as well as fundsfor future small acquisitions of titles or individual events. VITESSE MEDIA PLC CONSOLIDATED PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNTFor the year ended 31 January 2006 2006 2005 £ £ TURNOVER 2,347,450 2,286,768 Cost of sales (1,072,181) (796,075) ---------- -------- GROSS PROFIT 1,275,269 1,490,693 Administrative expenses - exceptional - (433,408)- other (1,891,157) (1,479,684) ---------- --------TOTAL OPERATING LOSS (615,888) (422,399) Interest receivable 13,399 9,338Interest payable and similar charges (3,702) (3,756) ---------- --------LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE TAXATION (606,191) (416,817) Taxation - - ---------- --------LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES AFTER TAXATION (606,191) (416,817) ========== ======== LOSS PER SHAREBasic and diluted (3.90p) (3.08p) ========== ======== The operating loss for the year arises from the group's continuing operations.The exceptional item in 2005 related to the impairment of publishing rights. Theresult for 2005 before the impairment was a profit before tax of £16,591. No separate Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses has been presented asall such gains and losses have been dealt with in the Profit and Loss Account. VITESSE MEDIA PLC CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET31 January 2006 2006 2005 £ £ FIXED ASSETSIntangible assets 381,644 383,837Tangible assets 173,336 118,806 --------- --------- 554,980 502,643 --------- --------- CURRENT ASSETSDebtors 368,020 527,952Cash at bank and in hand 465,452 716,109 --------- --------- 833,472 1,244,061 CREDITORS: Amounts falling due within one year (805,194) (745,162) --------- ---------NET CURRENT ASSETS 28,278 498,899 --------- --------- TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 583,258 1,001,542 CREDITORS: Amounts falling due after more than oneyear (31,056) (5,567) DEFERRED INCOME (254,687) (292,270) --------- ---------NET ASSETS 297,515 703,705 ========= ========= CAPITAL AND RESERVESCalled up share capital 1,594,750 1,513,117Share premium account 1,333,438 1,215,070Other reserves 103,904 103,904Profit and loss account (2,734,577) (2,128,386) --------- ---------EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS 297,515 703,705 ========= ========= VITESSE MEDIA PLC CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENTFor the year ended 31 January 2006 2006 2005 £ £ Cash flow from operating activities (354,947) 144,386 Returns on investments and servicing of finance 9,697 5,582 Capital expenditure (70,857) (60,896) Acquisitions - (149,489) --------- --------CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) BEFORE USE OF LIQUID RESOURCES ANDFINANCING (416,107) (60,417) Management of liquid resources 367,065 (347,454) Financing 165,450 464,695 --------- --------INCREASE IN CASH IN THE YEAR 116,408 56,824 ========= ======== RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS 2006 2005 £ £ Increase in cash in the year 116,408 56,824 Cash outflow from decrease in debt and lease financing 34,550 39,178 Cash outflow/(inflow) from change in liquid resources (367,065) 347,454 -------- --------Change in net funds arising from cash flows (216,107) 443,456 New hire purchase contract (49,595) - -------- --------MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS IN YEAR (265,702) 432,079 NET FUNDS AT 1 FEBRUARY 2005 682,255 250,176 -------- --------NET FUNDS AT 31 JANUARY 2006 416,553 682,255 ======== ======== VITESSE MEDIA PLC NOTES For the year ended 31 January 2006 1. The financial information contained in this document does not constitutestatutory accounts within the meaning of section 240 Companies Act 1985. Thefigures for the year ended 31 January 2006 have been extracted from the annualaccounts in respect of which the auditors have not yet signed their auditreport. The audited statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2005 havebeen extracted from the audited statutory accounts for that year which have beenfiled with the Registrar of Companies and received an unqualified auditors'report which did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or (3) CompaniesAct 1985. 2. The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those used inprevious years. 3. EARNINGS/LOSS PER SHARE The calculation of loss per share is based on the following losses and numbers of shares. 2006 2005 £ £ Loss for the financial year (606,191) (416,817) ========= ========= 2006 2005 Weighted average number of shares No No For basic and diluted loss per share 15,539,340 13,550,109 ========= ========= 4. SHARE CAPITAL 2006 2005 £ £Authorised:20,000,000 ordinary shares of 10p each 2,000,000 2,000,000 ========== ========Allotted, issued and fully paid:15,947,503 ordinary shares of 10p each 1,594,750 1,513,117 ========== ======== £ £ At 1 February 2005 1,513,117 1,513,117Issued in year 81,633 - ---------- --------At 31 January 2006 1,594,750 1,513,117 ========== ======== Share issues: On 12 October 2005 the company allotted 816,326 ordinary shares of 10p each fora total cash consideration of £200,000 to provide additional working capital. 5. CASH FLOWS 2006 2005 £ £A Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash flow from operating activities Operating loss (615,888) (422,399) Amortisation 2,193 - Depreciation 57,214 36,910 Loss on disposal 8,719 - Impairment of intangible fixed assets - 433,408 Decrease/(increase) in debtors 159,932 (303,433) Increase in creditors 70,466 333,992 (Decrease)/increase in deferred income (37,583) 65,908 ---------- -------- Net cash flow from operating activities (354,947) 144,386 ========== ======== B CASH FLOWS (continued) 2006 2005 Analysis of cash flows for headings netted in the £ £ cash flow Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 13,399 9,338 Interest paid (3,702) (3,756) ---------- -------- Net cash inflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance 9,697 5,582 ========== ======== Capital expenditure Purchase of tangible fixed assets (70,857) (60,896) ---------- -------- Net cash outflow from capital expenditure (70,857) (60,896) ========== ======== Acquisitions Purchase of businesses - (149,489) ---------- -------- Net cash outflow for acquisitions - (149,489) ========== ======== Financing Repayment of long term bank loan (25,443) (36,050) Capital element of hire purchase contracts (9,107) (3,128) Share issues (net of expenses) 200,000 503,873 ---------- -------- Net cash inflow from financing 165,450 464,695 ========== ======== C Analysis of net funds At Other non At 1 February cash 31 January 2005 Cash flow changes 2006 £ £ £ £ Cash in hand, at bank 119,839 116,408 - 236,247 Bank deposits 596,270 (367,065) - 229,205 --------- -------- -------- -------- 716,109 (250,657) - 465,452 --- Debt due within 1 year (25,443) 25,443 - - Hire purchase contracts (8,411) 9,107 (49,595) (48,899) --------- -------- -------- -------- (33,854) 34,550 (49,595) (48,899) --------- -------- -------- -------- Total 682,255 (216,107) (49,595) 416,553 ========= ======== ======== ======== 6. This preliminary announcement was approved by the Board on 31 May 2006.Copies of this announcement are available at the office of the company'snominated advisor KBC Peel Hunt at the address below. The Annual GeneralMeeting will take place at the offices of KBC Peel Hunt at 111 Old Broad Street,London, EC2N 1PH on 7 July 2006. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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