Monthly Shareholder’s Newsletter
Issue 11: November
2014
We welcome our investors from around the world once again to the
November issue of the UCP Newsletter. In it you will find the
information you need as reported by the management of the various
companies that fall under our holding company umbrella.
As we approach the end of the year, we thank the shareholders
once again for their emails and continued UCP support. We look
forward to an even bigger and brighter 2015, together! ……Ken
UCP News:
The Annual Shareholder’s Meeting was held in Stockholm, Sweden
at UCP’s headquarters on October 31st. We are proud to announce
that after shareholder voting results from around the world were
tabulated, the current board of directors was voted in for another
year. The UCP BOD that was voted in with an overwhelming mandate to
grow the business for 2015 are:
NICLAS FRÖBERG
CARL JOHAN GRANDINSON LARS BLOMBERG
ANNA-KARIN DARLIN KENNETH S.
ROSENTHAL
In addition, our top shareholders took part in the annual
meeting by calling in and asking pertinent questions to the board
members. Ideas such as ways to add new investors and bolster the
UCP share price were brought up. We heard you and we are listening.
Therefore, UCP plans on having one more board meeting this year, in
December. Among many issues on the table will be global business
development, growth for 2015 and a discussion with regards to the
shareholder’s recommendations.
As to UCP’s 3rd Quarter Results, our CFO Anna-Karin Darlin
delivered the numbers this past Saturday, November 15th, via our
corporate website. She had this to say about them:
“The UCP Inc. Q3RF report for 2014 shows that the Group has
doubled the net revenues the nine months ended September compared
to last year. Client’s media investments in third quarter decreased
compared to the second quarter 2014, and even if it at the moment
looks as the media spend improves in the last quarters they are not
as high as expected. Still the aggregated media spend for all
companies in the group has increases by 4.7% (+3.3 MUSD) compared
to the same period last year. The Group’s result also improved –
29% - compared with the same period last year. Unfortunately the
bottom line is still showing a loss.
The ongoing development projects aiming to ensure the Group
fulfils its objective to provide high level effective communication
services to clients in the increasingly complex communication
arena, and the extensive sales processes in 2014 has required
resources both in terms of time and money, and for 2014 we have
reluctantly had to conclude that the Group will not be able to
reach break-even for the full year. This said we forecast the
result to be significantly improved compare to last year. We
are convinced that the work done this year has laid the foundation
for the future, enabling us to fulfil the overall objectives and to
continue to improve profitability in the future.”
In sum, we look forward to the continued guidance and
contributions from our Board members and to the progress and future
success of UCP in 2015 and beyond.
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3Kronor Stockholm
As conveyed to me by the office’s CEO Mia Forsgren, the positive
business energy continues at 3Kronor Stockholm. In fact, it is
growing.
October has been a busy period once again, full of meetings with
potential new clients. We foresee many new opportunities for 2015.
In just one week, 3Kronor met with top possible clients Stor &
Liten (e-commerce for toys), The Swedish Royal Opera, and a
start-up called Glue!
At the moment we are focusing on closing 2014 in the best way.
And of course, continuing the growth momentum into 2015.
New clients are: Destination Järvsö, a Swedish ski resort-
(planning for winter season), a marketing campaign from Eniro
(Swedish search engine) and a lot of new assignments by our already
existing clients.
In further news, the Stockholm office has collectively just
finished step 2 “Inspire Shared Visions” in our education
program:”7-step Sustainability Change Process”, our focus on how
one can one optimize and derive increased value from change
management efforts. As such, on November 13th, everyone (100% of
the employees) at 3Kronor took the Google Search exam (AdWords
fundamental).
On Nov 11-12 there was an important seminar (SIME) in Stockholm,
where we were proud to present one of our clients (Urb-it) as a
speaker, as businesses from around the world gathered to explore
new business opportunities.
In the recent edition of Sweden’s Dagen’s Media, our own Maya
Garkusha wrote the following (translated here in English, with the
original article in Swedish found in the link below):
“Programmatic or RTB as it was called in the earlier days, has
been a trending high in recent years. It is a revolutionary way to
buy media that is more transparent, more efficient, more flexible
and above all, more intelligent.
Most have read of reports showing the rapid growth of
programmatic and many industry players are positioned with both
staff and technology to enable a transition to programmatic
buying.
However, there is one thing that inhibits development: payment
models from the technology suppliers. Today, buyers pay a
percentage charge on media investment that varies depending on the
technology used.
Many turn a blind eye, however, when people start buying
"premium space” which traditionally have been at least as high of a
CPM as a regular booked campaign.
For technology providers, cost transactions of a hundred million
views are just as important regardless of the CPM (price screenings
sold for). But it will be a very big difference for buyers if we
buy impressions for CPM 10 CPM or 100 as a percentage of cost
involved.
In practice this means that, for high CPM rates, it will be more
expensive to shop via programmatic than to call a seller and
complete the purchase manually.
The merit of the technology providers will also be ridiculously
high when the revenue can go up a hundred times without a number of
views increases. It is clear that the payment model is based on an
outdated scenario where it is not possible to perform premium
buying via programmatic.
Now that reality has changed should technology provider’s
payment models follow suit, too? If the solution had been a self-
built platform then agencies may not need to worry; but
unfortunately it does not solve all problems.
It is possible to argue that agencies that used similar payment
models for traditional media buying are part of the same problem.
The difference is that on the agency side, revenue models already
begun to change as customers placed other requirements. Now we have
to make the same demands on technology suppliers.
Our customers are ready and publishers await. As we observe, we
have started buying premium format via programmatic – so as not to
get caught up in the race to the bottom via rhetoric. My question
is, what will technology providers do to take the next step in
evolution?”
Maya Garkusha, Head of Programmatic Tre Kronor
http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/dig/article3864600.ece
Maya’s words were also picked up by the website idg, which is
considered the “front page” for the largest IT networks, giving
readers access to IDG’s IT publications:
http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.598007/sverige-halkar-efter-inom-digital-annonsering
Finally, 3Kronor Stockholm, along with agency partner Columbus
Media International, under Horizon Media New York stewardship,
reports that Readly is:
- Expanding their business into Germany with the help of the
German agency MediaPlus.
In Sweden, 3Kronor has produced a TV Commercial for Readly, with
great response and interest from the consumer
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3Kronor Copenhagen
3Kronor Copenhagen is currently working with a potential client:
Coloplast. Coloplast is a Danish multinational company that
develops, manufactures and markets medical devices and services
related to ostomy, urology, continence, and wound care. They have
asked 3Kronor to explore the possibilities of market theming in the
US.
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HowCom/HowCom Evolution - Sweden
In the past month, no new employees were hired. But, that did
not stop us from winning new business.
Client Wins
Transportstyrelsen (Swedish Transport Agency) The
Swedish Transport Agency have greatly increased their market
investments. HowCom is responsible for planning and buying
four campaigns for the opening of Norra Länken, the new
tunnel in Stockholm, Congestion Tax in Göteborg and
Bridge-tolls in Sundsvall and Motala.
Client News
SevenDay Finans specializes in savings accounts and personal
loans in Sweden. This client will be launching new products in
the Swedish market shortly. HowCom will plan and buy radio and
digital media for the campaign period.
General
Continued interest in digital media from our clients for 2015.
The situation on the Swedish TV market also drives the client into
the digital platforms.
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Native Clicks – Spain
The hard at work team over at Native Clicks reports in that in
the past month, there was no client wins/losses and no new
employees.
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In Sight - Norway
The hard at work team over at In Sight reports in that in the
past month, there was no client wins/losses and no new
employees.
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About United Communications Partners
United Communications Partners is a communication holding group
with award winning subsidiaries and operational focus in Europe and
North America. For more information please visit our website:
www.ucpworld.com or find us on the OTC Market Wire
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Questions/Comments:
United Communications Partners
291 Broadway, Suite 302
New York, NY 10007
email: ken.rosenthal@ucpworld.com