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2012 GROUP RESULTS SHOW STRONG GROWTH

11-Apr-13



BD Multimedia offers:



  • Consumer Services: Value-Added Telecommunications, Internet and Premium Rate Number Services.

  • Enterprise Services: Payment and Value-Added Telecoms Solutions.


Revenue by business area















































Consolidated revenue (€000s)201020112012
Payment services3,87314,78423,196
Apogéa7,4117,5877,393
Publishing – community sites2,6202,4322,394
Publishing – games701721477
Telephony9513478
Total revenue14,69825,65833,538


Payment services:


Revenue from payment services increased by €8,412k or 57% (from €14,784k in 2011 to €23,196k in 2012). Revenue growth in this area was mainly driven by successful client retention fuelled by a regular flow of new functionality and products and strong sales activity. However, revenue declined in the second half of the year as a result of our dropping a large number of clients as the request of telecoms operators. New client registrations continue apace and are growing in 2013. While we expect revenue to grow in 2013, total revenue for the year is likely to be below that reported in 2012.

Apogéa’s revenue declined by €194k or 3% (from €7,587k in 2011 to €7,393k in 2012). This subsidiary was sold at end December 2012.


Publishing – community sites:


Revenue from publishing (internet, premium rate numbers and related services) declined by €38k (from €2,432k in 2011 to €2,394k in 2012). This slight decline was mainly due to the launch of our freemium offerings. The reduction in the amount of the average subscription was more or less offset by growth in client numbers. We are keen to begin work on creating new sites and modernizing existing sites (to add new technologies, new functionality, new graphics, etc.).


Publishing – games:


This business area generated revenue of €477k, compared with €721k in 2011 (down 34%). This decline was driven by a loss of gamers as a result of improvements in our security systems.


Telephony:


Revenue from B2C telephony activities declined by €56k or 42% (from €134k in 2011 to €78k in 2012).

 

Operating profit (€000s)

















201020112012
Operating profit3551,6032,309

 

The Group posted an operating profit of €2,309k in 2012, compared with €1,603k in 2011, representing an increase of 44%.


Payment services:


Operating profit in this area increased by €1,060k (from €2,334k or 16% of revenue in 2011 to €3,394k or 15% of revenue in 2012). Our StarPass product experienced strong growth in 2012, with the expected decline in revenue in the second half partly offset by an uplift in the gross margin. Our 2012 results were driven by a continuing high level of marketing and IT expenditure.
Operating profit for the Apogéa subgroup declined by €75k (from €355k in 2011 to €280k in 2012). This subsidiary was sold at end December 2012.

 

Publishing – community sites:


Operating profit (loss) for this sector improved by a modest €10k (from (€91k) in 2011 to (€81k) in 2012). The decline in revenue was offset by a fall in restructuring costs and more targeted marketing activities.


Publishing – games:


Operating profit in this area declined by €39k (from €57k in 2011 to €18k in 2012). This decline was mainly driven by a decline in revenue.
Operating profit (loss) for the telephony business declined by €5k (from (€80k) in 2011 to (€85k) in 2012).


Overheads:


Including salaries for administrative departments and Group operating expenses, were affected by increases in various expenses (employee expenses, professional fees, taxes, bank charges, etc.), resulting in a €244k negative impact on profit (with overheads up from €975k in 2011 to €1,221k in 2012).

The net financial income (expense) for the year improved from a €41k expense in 2011 to a €35k expense in 2012.
Profit from ordinary activities totaled €2,274k in 2012, up from €1,562k in 2011.
Net non-recurring income in the year totaled €2,645k. This was mainly driven by a net capital gain of €2,760k at December 31, 2012 on the disposal of the Apogéa subsidiary.
The Group posted a profit of €4,031k.
With consolidated profit of €4,031k and operating cash flow of €1,368k, the Group generated a positive cash flow of €3,783k. We obtained €17k in bank borrowing facilities, invested €213k in investing activities, recognized a gain of €1,076k on the divestment of Apogéa (including non-trading working capital of €3,004k), reduced our debt by €1,230k and paid €18k in dividends to minority shareholders in consolidated companies. As a result, the Group’s cash position improved from €1,939k at December 31, 2011 to €3,242k at December 31, 2012.

The remaining proceeds from the sale of our subsidiary Apogéa (€3,004k) were received in January 2013. Our net cash position at January 31, 2013 was €6,293k.




 


Commenting on these results, Daniel Dorra, Chairman and CEO of BD Multimedia, said:


In 2012 we achieved the best ever performance in our company’s history, mainly thanks to strong performance by our StarPass payment service, together with the gain on the disposal of our subsidiary Apogéa in the latter part of the year.

Policy changes by telecoms operators and a tightening of regulations in 2012 forced us to scale back our payment services traffic, resulting in a significant decline in revenue. After bottoming out in November 2012, our payment services business has returned to growth and we have succeeded in significantly increasing the gross margin.

We also laid important foundations for the future in 2012 by forming BD Multimedia Hong Kong Ltd, which will spearhead our international development.

Our PayDuo.com international payment service benefited from a brand new development and marketing team made up of people from an international background (including Americans, Chinese, Indians, Portuguese, Brazilians and Spaniards), providing us with a wealth of expertise in developing this product.

We have successfully absorbed a huge breadth of new expertise, putting us in a strong position for the next few years.

We are now focused on our online business, we have the structure we need to expand our payment services internationally, and we have an ideal Asian base: Hong Kong is a strong financial platform that offers powerful tools for payment services providers like BD Multimedia. With Asia growing in economic power, its location is a big plus.

At end January 2013, we had net cash of €6,293k and very little borrowing.

Our aim is to combine the innovative thinking of a start-up with our experience as a mature company to achieve genuine online success and drive up our valuation.

Thank you for your confidence.
Daniel Dorra

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 and our 2012 Financial Report will be made available online no later than April 30, 2013.












About StarPass and BD Multimedia


StarPass is a fully integrated payment service that offers online merchants selling virtual goods and services the ability to monetize their content using a single solution with no installation costs or recurring fees.


StarPass is operated by BD Multimedia, a pioneer in premium and value-added services since 1986 and an expert in telecoms solutions.


BD Multimedia is listed on the Alternext market of the Paris Stock Exchange.
(ISIN code: FR0000035305/ALBDM)








Reminder of last press release dated February 1, 2013: BD Multimedia group sells its Apogéa subsidiary to Evanéa/Axido
BD Multimedia is listed on the NYSE Euronext Alternext market of the Paris Stock Exchange (ALBDM/ISIN code: FR0000035305)