TIDMBHRD
RNS Number : 8205M
Be Heard Group PLC
02 August 2017
2 August 2017
Be Heard Group plc
('The Company', 'The Group' or 'Be Heard')
Strong revenue growth in first half
Be Heard Group plc (AIM: BHRD), the digital marketing services
group, is pleased to issue the following trading update for the six
months ending 30 June 2017.
The Board remains confident in the Group's outlook for the full
year.
Highlights
-- Net revenue growth of over 155 per cent to GBP8.4million (2016: GBP3.3 million)
-- Very strong organic growth at agenda21 and MMT Digital
('MMT'), including a high volume of new business wins
-- Kameleon impacted by suspension of activity by two clients,
and also Government work following announcement of General
Election, but now starting to recover
-- Strong new business performance with 25 new client wins
including Addison Lee, Brakes Brothers, The Forestry Commission,
Gresham House, GSK, Save the Children, Sovereign, Unilever Food
Solutions and Vodafone Enterprise
-- Additional work from key existing clients including Casumo,
ComparetheMarket, SSE, Unilever and Vodafone
-- Investment in additional staff and facilities at MMT and
group-level hires to facilitate and promote further growth
-- Six clients now served by two or more Be Heard Group
companies representing 23 per cent of Group net revenue in the
first half
-- Strong pipeline of work from existing and new clients for the
second half of the year, with 73 per cent of current forecast
revenue billed or committed
The Group's net revenue grew by 155 percent to GBP8.4 million
(H1 2016: GBP3.3 million) as a result of the impact of a full six
months' contribution from MMT and Kameleon, four months'
contribution from Freemavens, which was acquired in February 2017
and recent new business wins.
Net revenue at MMT and agenda21 rose by an encouraging 44 per
cent and 21 per cent respectively including additional business
from existing clients and significant new client wins. The scale of
new business success at MMT called for investment in additional
employees and facilities ahead of plan, leading to an increase in
costs to support future contracted work.
Kameleon, the Group's content agency, experienced a slowdown due
to the suspension of all Government work following the announcement
of the General Election in April, and of activity by two clients.
Kameleon has since started to recover, including winning new
clients and working with other Group companies to deliver creative
content solutions to clients.
The Group has also strengthened its central resource with the
appointment of Richard Costa D'Sa as Chief Growth Officer and
Andrew Dunderdale as Financial Director. Both appointments
represent investment to drive and manage future growth, by focusing
on increasing cross-group work.
Notable new client wins in the first half included Addison Lee,
Brakes Brothers and Vodafone Enterprise at agenda21; Unilever Food
Solutions and GSK at Freemavens; The Forestry Commission, Gresham
House, Save The Children, Sovereign and Vodafone Enterprise at MMT;
and ACCA, Public Health England and the Society of Petroleum
Engineers at Kameleon. Across the Group key existing clients
including Casumo, ComparetheMarket, SSE, Unilever and Vodafone also
expanded their briefs.
The Group has started broadening relationships with clients by
connecting skill sets to follow and deliver against key stages of
the digital customer journey. agenda21 extended its relationship
with Vodafone by winning the Enterprise Business Unit SEO account
and MMT also expanded its Vodafone relationship, which now operates
under the Be Heard umbrella contract with Vodafone. Similarly, Be
Heard has continued to make progress extending existing
relationships with Apetito/Wiltshire Farm Foods, BDO,
CitySprint/OntheDot, Essilor, Northumbria Water and Vodafone, now
served by two or more companies within the Group. In total, clients
served by two or more Be Heard Group companies represented 23 per
cent of Group net revenue in the first half.
Despite macro economic and political uncertainties the Group is
seeing a strong pipeline of work from existing and new clients for
the second half of the year, with 73 per cent of current forecast
revenue for 2017 billed or committed. In addition, the Board is
encouraged by the increasing number of opportunities for our
partner companies to work together to deliver connected solutions
for clients, a key element of Be Heard's growth strategy.
The company is also developing new proprietary products. These
include Content Compass, a new tool created by agenda21 to enable
companies to optimise and streamline user journeys. Vodafone has
publicly credited Content Compass with significantly improving its
search visibility and enabling it to deliver more targeted content.
We expect to launch a number of other new tools and services in the
second half of the year
While the Group is in the early stages of its development, the
Board is encouraged by the levels of revenue growth at MMT and
agenda21 in particular, and by client cross referral across partner
companies and remains confident in the Group's outlook for the full
year.
For further information, please contact:
Be Heard Group plc +44 20 3828 6269
Peter Scott,
Executive Chairman
Robin Price,
Chief Operating Officer
and Chief Financial Officer
N+1 Singer +44 20 7496 3000
Mark Taylor / Lauren Kettle
Dowgate +44 20 3903 7715
James Serjeant
Bell Pottinger (Financial
PR) +44 20 3772 2573
Elly Williamson / Liz Morley ewilliamson@bellpottinger.com
Notes to Editors:
About Be Heard Group plc
Be Heard Group plc (AIM:BHRD) is a digital marketing services
group operating at the intersection of marketing, technology and
e-commerce. Our vision is to build an agile interconnected group
focused on helping clients maximise their return-on-investment from
digital marketing. To achieve this, we acquire and connect
best-in-class partner companies spanning key digital disciplines,
providing management experience, access to deeper resources and a
strong platform for growth.
Our four partners today are:
Agenda 21 Digital Holding Limited ('agenda21'), a digital media
and analytics agency, which became a partner on admission in
November 2015 www.agenda21digital.com
MMT Limited ('MMT Digital'), a user experience ("UX"), design
and build agency, which became a partner in May 2016
www.mmtdigital.co.uk
Kameleon Worldwide Limited ('Kameleon'), a content marketing
agency, which became a partner in December 2016
www.kameleon.co.uk
Freemavens Limited ('Freemavens'), a data-driven analytics and
insight consultancy, which became a partner in February 2017
www.freemavens.com
www.beheardgroup.com
@Be_Heard_Group
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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