Outdoor advertising company Ocean Outdoor (LON:OOUT) booked a strong full-year set of results during 2019, alongside a long list of acquisitions, in what proved to be a formative year for the business.
Regarding its impressive performance, the company’s revenue jumped 13.5% year-on-year, up to £141.3 million. This led a 10.5% hike in its EBITDA, up from £30.4 million to £33.6 million. Ocean Outdoor also boasted that between its Ocean UK and Ocean NL operations, revenues were up 14.3% to £98.3 million, with EBITDA up 12.2% to £28.0 million.
In terms of acquisitions, the company announced the acquisition of Dutch OOH companies Ngage Media and Interbest, for a combined cash consideration of £43.0 million. It continued, saying that it had added the international media and tech group Visual Art and Nasdaq First North listed company AdCityMedia, to its roster, for interests of £56 million and £25 million respectively.
It went on to say that it had successfully secured extensions to its Piccadilly Lights and BFI IMAX contracts, and capped off its seemingly idyllic update by saying it had secured long-term contracts with Southampton and Glasgow City Councils, to provide “enhanced digital roadside city centre large format screens”.
Ocean Outdoor speaks on its successful year
Offering feedback on his company’s cheery update, CEO Tim Bleakley commented:
“In the last 12 months we completed five acquisitions and expanded our presence to seven countries, entering key strategic markets and creating a market leading DOOH offering in both the Netherlands and Sweden, where we are focussed on successfully implementing our Digital Cities for Digital Citizens philosophy. Our expanded geographical presence allows us to build a combination of premium digital assets and quality audience delivery networks across northern Europe that will meet the needs of both customers and advertisers.”
“Whilst we remain focused on expanding our network, creativity and innovation are also core to our growth and we continue to invest in new and engaging ways of using full motion DOOH to bring exclusives to audiences and a powerful broadcast platform for brands to exploit. Our recent Neuroscience based study and YouGov research has provided a greater, quantifiable understanding of the significant impact of the use of innovative content on full motion DOOH screens, underlining the value of our platform.”
“As we progress into 2020 we are excited to work alongside the team at AdCityMedia to fully integrate the latest addition into the Ocean Group and continue to develop our business in the UK and the rest of Europe.”
Investor notes
Following the update, the company’s shares have rallied 0.64% or 0.050p, to 7.90p per share 18/02/20 12:06 GMT. Ocean Outdoor currently has a p/e ratio of 0.46, and a market cap of $424.22 million.