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Ooh Media’s revenue up 23% to $251.6m as outdoor’s recovery continues

Ooh Media has continued its ongoing recovery after a 2020 heavily impacted by COVID, reporting revenues of $251.6 million for the first half of the 2021 calendar year, a 23% bump year-on-year.

The turnaround follows a 22% revenue decline reported in Q1 2021, while the latest results also saw underlying EBITDA skyrocket 209% to $33.3 million.

Despite reporting underlying NPATA of $2.4 million, there was a $3.9 million loss when it came to NPAT. That result still showed significant recovery, compared to a loss of $16.9 million in the prior corresponding period.

Ooh Media H1 Financials [click to enlarge]

Ooh Media reported a 16% reduction in net debt to reach $94 million, while there was no dividend paid for the half. Dividends were first suspended back in March of 2020, and the board will revisit this intent in future periods.

Operating expenditure increased $15.2 million. Ooh Media received $1.095 million from JobKeeper in the 12 months to 30 June, 2021, after receiving $6.97 million the prior year.

Breaking down each of Ooh Media’s core products, commute saw a 26% increase in revenue to $91.9 million, with street furniture up 36% and rail revenue down 18% following additional recent lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne.

Road was Ooh Media’s strongest performing division, with a 44% lift to $78.6 million, and also up 16% when compared to H1 of 2019. Ooh Media’s retail product also had a 40% increase, rising in revenue to $57.3 million.

Unsurprisingly, its airport-related division continued its downturn with ongoing COVID restrictions on international travel and recent domestic border closures. Fly revenue dropped 56% to $8 million, while Locate revenue fell 33% to $7.5 million.

CEO Cathy O’Connor said the result shows the scale and diversity of Ooh Media and its assets.

“We have seen strong audience growth post lockdowns which has led to a significant turnaround in revenue for the half, particularly in our key formats of Road, Retail and Street Furniture in Australia and New Zealand.

“That has also been a function of our strong suburban and regional network where we continue to provide unrivalled reach and frequency for advertisers.

“In Australia audience levels were consistent up to May 2021 before declining as a result of the Melbourne lockdown in June.  Overall revenue has held consistently at 80% of 2019 levels with revenue in Road performing particularly strongly at 116% of the first half of 2019.  New Zealand also performed at or slightly above 2019 levels.

“As conditions have become more fluid during the pandemic, we are seeing advertisers capitalising on the flexibility of digital out of home (DOOH).  With the largest quality digital network across the region, Ooh is well-positioned to respond.”

O’Connor reiterated the focus on the company’s Ooh Media core business. “The out-of-home sector is well positioned to grow its share of advertising revenue through improvements to measurement and further digitisation,” she said.

“Our core focus is on our out of home assets and redefining our offering through audience selling which capitalises on oOh!’s scale advantage to deliver increased effective reach to advertisers and revenue to Ooh. Consistent with our focus on Out of Home, we announced the proposed divestment of Junkee Media.”

Revenue from Ooh Media’s ‘other’ segment, which includes Junkee Media and Cactus Imaging, increased 9% to $8.3 million.

The half-year report also revealed that Ooh Media expects to sell Junkee before the end of the year, also saying that the asset carrying value of Junkee is not currently material to the company.

Ooh Media also revealed an updated FY21 outlook, reporting that revenue in Q3 is pacing 38% higher than the prior corresponding period, and at 74% of Q3 in 2019.

Capital expenditure for the full year will be at or under $25 million and remains focussed on revenue growth opportunities and concession renewals.

Ooh Media has a current market capitalisation of $907.73 million and a daily share price of $1.52.

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