Costs dent Perform’s results
DIGITAL sports rights group Perform yesterday revealed its first annual results since floating on the London Stock Exchange last April, showing strong revenue growth despite a steep drop in pre-tax profits.
Revenues rose 53 per cent to £103.2m leading to a £14.7m net profit excluding one-off costs, up 45 per cent on 2010.
But unadjusted profits more than halved to £3.7m, dragged down by £3.2m of flotation costs, £4.8m from its share option plan and £1.8m relating to the £25m it spent on acquisitions, including the £18m purchase of Goal.com.
Perform, which buys sports media rights and builds products around them for bookmakers, news providers and consumers, increased its total video and data subscribers by 50 per cent to 375,000 and multiplied the number of on-demand video streams viewed on its ePlayer by 240 per cent to 3,606.
The group’s biggest unit is Watch&Bet, its streaming service to online bookies, which streamed 11,376 events – a growth of 40 per cent – as it tripled its number of licensees.
Perform also builds internet and mobile platforms for companies including Chelsea FC and al-Jazeera Sport.
Co-chief executive Oliver Slipper said: “The opportunities for long-term sustainable growth are significant.”
He added that Perform has already contracted revenues in excess of £90m for the year ahead.
Perform floated in April at £2.60 a share, valuing the company just shy of £600m. Shares closed yesterday at £2.79, down 1.2 per cent.