Perform Group profits flat despite revenue hike
Profits steady at £15.6m as betting and media client portfolio more than doubles in size
Perform Group’s H1 profits remained flat at £15.6m despite a 29% surge in revenues as the digital rights business outlined cost cutting initiatives for the second half of the year.
Revenue for the six-month period ended 30 June jumped to £118.8m on the back of a productive World Cup and the number of Perform’s betting and media clients more than doubled over the course of the past year, rising 126% to 974.
The sports data and content distribution firm said its bottom line was impacted by a “legacy cost base” and the cost of acquisition for new content, which it hopes to remedy with cost reduction initiatives to be realised throughout H2.
Simon Denyer, joint-CEO of Perform Group, said that the firm’s priority for H1 was to deliver the cost reduction plans without disrupting the business.
“Since outlining those plans earlier in the year, we’ve made significant progress and accordingly are on track to achieve the benefits we targeted, which we expect to start seeing come through in H2,” he said.
The firm also noted that H2 trading had begun well, with Denyer confident of meeting the Board’s expectations with regards to full-year revenue and profits.
Last year the group was forced to issue a profit warning after suffering a “significant” drop in EBITDA, news that was followed by its CFO David Surtees leaving the firm just a week later.
The results come in the same week that Perform’s international account director David Johnson left the firm to become head of digital rights at rival sports data supplier SIS.
Perform’s share price was down 6.6p to 207p after early morning trading.