Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with oOh!media Limited (ASX:OML) CEO, Brendon Cook Carolyn Herbert: Hello I’m Carolyn Herbert for the Finance News Network and joining me from oOh!media Limited
(ASX:OML) to discuss its first half 2015 results is CEO, Brendon Cook. Brendon, welcome back.
Brendon Cook: It’s a pleasure to be here Carolyn.
Carolyn Herbert: You’ve just reported your first half results since relisting late last year. What were some of the highlights?
Brendon Cook: Revenue was up six per cent, which is obviously extremely positive. But importantly, our EBIT was up 51 per cent to $20.2 million and that’s certainly ahead of forecast.
Carolyn Herbert: What was the dividend for the half and are you on track with your PDS forecast?
Brendon Cook: The dividend for the first half is 2.8 cents. And in terms of the forecast before, the original Prospectus was $48.6 million and we’re upgrading that forecast, to a range from $53 million to $55 million.
Carolyn Herbert: Taking a look at the oOh!media network. How many sites have you added and where are you growing the most?
Brendon Cook: One of the keys for us is we’ve got a very big network of signs. So what we’ve been doing is investing heavily in the existing infrastructure, and digitising that. And we’re well on track to deliver our forecast of 17 premium high quality digital signs, throughout Australia. Including the first six-storey full motion digital in Australia, very Times Square like, in Bourke Street Melbourne. On top of that we’re continuing to expand our digitisation in our retail network, as well as adding new centres. We’ve added about 35 new centres, as the population growth expands in Australia.
Carolyn Herbert: How’s the advertising market performing and what’s the outlook for the second half?
Brendon Cook: The market’s been very strong for out-of-home. I think the ad market in general is quite subdued, however, out-of-home is growing significantly within that. And over the last two years, we’ve seen the out-of-home market beat the growth of the industry sector, by anywhere from four to six times. So I think we’re still seeing that’s positive, hence our guidance upgrade. And we still feel very comfortable about the rest of the year, and very confident that the medium is performing.
Carolyn Herbert: You’re now integrating outside advertising with mobile. How is the mobile element progressing?
Brendon Cook: Out-of-home is very lucky, our audiences aren’t declining and technology’s our friend. And what we really are is the original location based medium. And if you look at where mobile, heading mobile is all about location and how it can integrate with consumers in location. So we’re working with a lot of companies, to understand even better ways that we can ensure the consumers engage. And physically, we are also investing in some of our environments like universities and cafes, where we’re actually creating offline and online products that allow people on mobile, to engage in stories and information in a different way, in those environments.
Carolyn Herbert: What about acquisitions of new sites and related businesses. Is this something you’re actively pursuing?
Brendon Cook: We’re very fortunate our balance sheet is extremely strong and we have the headroom. As a company, we’ve been an acquisitive company over the last decade and acquired over 25 businesses. So we are always looking for the right opportunity and should it arise, we will make the acquisition.
Carolyn Herbert: What would you say the priority is for the next six months?
Brendon Cook: It really is at the moment in our Prospectus, we made it very clear we would put a lot of capital and a lot of development into digitalisation, data and research. And we are continuing that, continuing to roll out as per our Prospectus. We’re on track with that and we’re very confident that will help to deliver long-term, sustainable growth for the business.
Carolyn Herbert: Finally Brendon, can you provide us with a comment on full year guidance?
Brendon Cook: As our Prospectus had us at $48.6 million, we’ve given full year guidance of $53 million to $55 million, which is an upgrade and very confident on delivery of that upgrade.
Carolyn Herbert: Brendon Cook, thanks very much for the update.
Brendon Cook: Pleasure Carolyn.
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