DGAP-News: Cliq Digital AG reports full year 2021 results
DGAP-News: Cliq Digital AG
/ Key word(s): Annual Results
Cliq Digital AG reports full year 2021 results
01.03.2022 / 07:30
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
DÜSSELDORF, 1 March 2022 - CLIQ Digital AG today publishes its 2021 audited financial statements and presents its 2022 dividend proposal as well as its short- and medium-term outlook. "In 2021, we again exceeded all company targets and expectations thanks to the performance of our successful and stronger-than-ever marketing campaigns," said Luc Voncken, CEO of CLIQ Digital. "We focused on our key strategies and outperformed our guidance. We are confident that we will build on the momentum from 2021 to drive top line growth further and continue to generate healthy margins."
4Q / FY 2021 Performance
The audited 2021 financials are in line with the preliminary results announced on 1 February 2022 and show record results, featuring continued profitability as well as an attractive dividend.
Revenue: In 4Q 2021, revenue grew by 55% to €46.8 million (PY: €30.1 million). For FY 2021, revenue increased by 40% to €150.0m compared to 2020 (PY: €107.0m) and was mainly driven by increased performance marketing campaigns promoting multi-content portals. Margin: For 4Q 2021, the EBITDA margin was 17.5% (PY: 16.8%) with EBITDA growing 62% to €8.2 million (PY: €5.1 million). In FY 2021, EBITDA grew against prior year by 70% to €27.2m (PY: €15.9m) and the EBITDA margin expanded to 18% p.a. (PY: 15%). Earnings per share: For 4Q, basic EPS grew by 163% to €0.90 (PY: €0.34). For FY 2021, basic EPS was up 136% to €2.74 (PY: €1.16) on the back of a profit for the year after non-controlling interest of €17.8 million (PY: €7.2 million), which increased by 149% against prior year. Dividends: In line with the company's consistent dividend policy (40% payout ratio), the Management and Supervisory Boards propose a dividend per share of €1.10 (PY: €0.46 distributed) to the virtual Annual General Meeting on 14 April 2022. Cash flow: Operating free cash flow for the year was up €3.4 million to €17.5 million (PY: €14.1 million), driven by the strong business performance. Marketing spend: In 4Q 2021, the marketing spend increased considerably by 145% to €19.5 million (PY: 8.0 million) due to increased advertising volume and slightly higher advertising prices. For FY 2021, the annual marketing spend was up 59% to €54.4m (PY: €34.2m), whereby the proportion of own media buying grew to 79% compared to 55% in 2020.Operating review
The revenue growth was driven by all regions, of which European sales in 4Q 2021 grew the strongest by 68% mainly driven by the fundamental shift from media buying via affiliate partners to CLIQ Digital's own, in-house media buying team. In Europe, our five top-selling countries were Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium. in millions of € 4Q2020 4Q
2021
Change FY
2020 FY
2021 Change Revenue 30.1 46.8 55% 107.0 150.0 40% North America 16.3 23.7 45% 51.6 74.7 45% Europe 11.8 19.7 68% 47.5 62.6 32% ROW 2.1 3.4 65% 7.8 12.7 62% Revenue growth by service in FY 2021 was highest in multi-content portal sales due to the significant increase in and improvement of the licenced content across nearly all categories. in millions of € 4Q
2020 4Q
2021
Change FY
2020 FY
2021 Change Revenue 30.1 46.8 55% 107.0 150.0 40% Multi-content 20.1 35.2 75% 63.8 107.9 69% Single-content 8.2 8.3 1% 36.2 31.3 -14% Ad-funded digital marketing services 1.8 3.3 82% 6.9 10.7 54% For more information, please refer to https://cliqdigital.com/campaigns.
Strategic updates
Strategy: In 2019, the company took the strategic decisions to offer members access to multi-content portals (in addition to the single-content offering) and to build an own media buying team to make CLIQ Digital less dependent on affiliate performance marketing partners. Since then, the company's multi-content strategy, which combines movies & series, music, games, audiobooks and sports to a bundled entertainment product, together with the in-house performance media buying team has driven the growth story significantly and efficiently. Since 2019, our multi-content services grew from €24m to €108m in 2021. Members: Within the CLIQ Group, the number of paid members for multi- and single content offerings increased in FY 2021 by 43.5% to 1.3 million (PY: 0.9 million) driven by the increase in successful marketing campaigns and the increase in attractive content, which is also more appealing to families. The average lifetime value of a member for multi- and single content offerings amounted to €69.81 by the end of the year (PY: €50.78). Lifetime Value of Customer Base: The Lifetime Value of Customer Base (LTVCB) came in at €87 million (PY: €50 million) at the end of 2021. The LTVCB was previously known as the Customer Base Value (CBV). The LTVCB is calculated by multiplying the number of members by their individual remaining lifetime value and represents the total revenue (i.e. without any deductions for cost of sales) that is expected to be generated by existing members. Previously, the CBV was calculated on expected net revenue. Profitability Index: CLIQ Digital's six months' Profitability Index (former CLIQ Factor) for the full year was 1.59x, compared to 1.68x in 2020. The year-on-year decrease was in line with the company's outlook for 2021 and was related to a general increase in the cost per acquisition across all regions."With the combination of our growing content offering packaged into convenient and affordable products together with our highly successful performance marketing campaigns, we are well on track to grow faster than the market. The combination of being debt-free, generating significant operating free cash flow and paying dividends makes our growth story exceptional," said Ben Bos, member of the Management Board. "Our next strategic step forward is to upgrade and market our All-in-One product to a much greater extent also via traditional advertising channels, which will make us much more visible and relevant."
Earnings call
A live audio conference call and webcast will be held at 2.00 p.m. CET today and conducted in English by Ben Bos.
To attend the conference call and ask questions during the live question and answer session, prior registration of contact details is required at https://event-registration.arkadin.com/621372e73b8a933ac14fa6d1.
The webcast will be streamed via the following link: https://www.webcast-eqs.com/cliqdigital20220301 (NB the webcast is listen only).
A recording of the webcast will be available after the call at: https://cliqdigital.ag/investors/financials.
Contacts
Investor relations:
Sebastian McCoskrie, s.mccoskrie@cliqdigital.com, +49 151 52043659
Media relations:
Daniela Münster, daniela.muenster@deekeling-arndt.com, +49 174 3358111
Financial calendar:
Annual General Meeting 2022 Thursday 14 April 2022 1Q 2022 Financial report & earnings call Tuesday 3 May 2022 2Q/6M 2022 Financial report & earnings call Tuesday 2 August 2022 3Q/9M 2022 Financial report & earnings call Thursday 3 November 2022About CLIQ Digital:
CLIQ Digital (www.cliqdigital.com) is a global streaming provider specialising in the performance marketing of affordable entertainment products, offering its members unlimited access to movies, series, music, audiobooks, sports and games. CLIQ Digital has a long and successful corporate history in digital marketing, offering niche products to the mass market at competitive prices. The company operates in over 30 countries and employed 129 staff from 32 different nationalities as at 31 December 2021. CLIQ Digital is a valuable strategic business partner for networks, content producers as well as for publishers and payment service providers. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf and has offices in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Barcelona, Toronto and Florida. CLIQ Digital is listed in the Scale segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A0HHJR3) and is a constituent of the MSCI World Micro Cap Index.
Visit our website at https://cliqdigital.ag/investors, here you will find all publications as well as further information about CLIQ Digital.
01.03.2022 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Archive at www.dgap.de
End of News DGAP News Service
1290347 01.03.2022