Outdoor media specialist oOh!media reported results for 2021, with revenue up 18.1% to $503.73 million compared to 2020, impacted by the pandemic.
Reported loss after tax of $10.3 million compared to loss of $36.2 million in prior year.
Underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) up 24% to $77.6 million with margin expansion leveraging revenue growth.
Underlying NPATA (net profit after tax plus amortisation) of $12.7 million compared to loss of $8.5 million in prior year.
The company says the new year started strongly.
Revenue for the March quarter was pacing 15% higher than the same three months 2021 and at 93% of 2019.
Outlook: "While the impact of the Omicron variant on overall demand for advertising media has been limited, there has been a pronounced impact on audience environments which have seen substantially less foot traffic than pre COVID such as Offices and Airports. Capital expenditure for the full year is expected to be between $45 million and $55 million and remains focused on revenue growth opportunities and concession renewals."
CEO Cathy O’Connor said oOh! successfully leveraged OOH audience growth to deliver a much improved financial result.
“The strong result is a testament to our strategy. As the market leader across Australia/New Zealand, we are uniquely positioned to capitalise on the audience recovery in OOH.
“Our scale and diversity across a number of formats means we are also able to deliver this growth despite some formats such as Fly, Office and Rail continuing to be impacted by the pandemic.
“Meanwhile, our strong operating leverage means we continue to grow earnings faster than revenue which has enabled the Company to return to profitability this year on a pre AASB16 basis and recommence dividends to shareholders.
“We are also generating further momentum into FY22 with a solid start to the year. First quarter revenue is pacing 15% ahead of the prior corresponding quarter and at 93% of the first quarter 2019.
“For the medium term, the fundamentals for Out of Home as a growth advertising medium remain compelling. This will only be enhanced by further significant digital investment opportunities across key formats.
“Our strategy is focused on oOh! being a more digital and digitised Out Of Home business generating enhanced leverage from our portfolio of existing assets and disciplined investments in building our assets and capability to deliver further growth.
“During CY21, we added over 30 digital locations to our metropolitan and regional roadside billboard portfolio which means we now have over 200 large format digital signs across Australia.
“In support of our Digital Out of Home strategy we have continued the digital transformation of our planning and buying systems. As part of this program, we are implementing initiatives to simplify the planning and buying process. We are also participating in the emerging programmatic digital Out of Home marketplace and further developing systems for improved
yield management.
“As a medium, Out of Home stands to benefit from the adoption of the MOVE (measurement of outdoor visibility and exposure) 1.5 industry standard from the first quarter of 2022.
“The Industry is now united on Share of Time as the common currency which will make it easier for advertisers to plan, buy and measure Out of Home campaigns via an enhanced, more accurate and standardised approach."
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