Ooh!Media shares down almost 7% after full year results

By AdNews | 26 February 2019
 

Shares in Ooh!Media fell in early trade on the ASX today following the release of the out of home group's full year results yesterday.

Mid morning the shares were down almost 7% to $3.47.

Analysts said the market was concentrating on the 2019 outlook.

The company gave guidance for the year to December 2019 of underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of between $152 million and $162 million.

Analysts at Macquarie Wealth Management say the guidance "disappoints", with implied gross profit growth of just 2.1% to 5.5% compared to expected mid to high-single digits.

"Guidance for underlying EBITDA of $152-$162m implies a fairly conservative take on organic earnings growth," the analysts wrote in a note to clients.

Macquarie Wealth Management described the ad market as tricky with Ooh!Media management cautious on the June quarter, given the close proximity of the NSW and Federal Elections and Easter. 

CEO Brendon Cook, releasing annual results, spoke of potential slowing of ad spend during the elections.

"The thing is, out of home doesn't necessarily benefit during an election," he said at the analyst briefing.

"We don't have the makeups to offset a slowdown".  

In the industry overall, the analysts see out of home ad spend up 7% in 2019, down from 10.8% in 2018.

But revenue is skewed to the second half of the year.

"Sustaining the revenue growth trends will be a key to unlocking the benefits of improving operating leverage and re-accelerating earnings growth," the analysts write.

Ooh!Media yesterday posted a 27% increase in full year revenue to $482.645 million on the back of the Adshel acquisition

However, net profit after tax was down 4% to $31.6 million because of acquisition and merger-related costs. Underlying profit, before the one-off costs, was up 18% to $51.1 million.

See: Adshel acquisition boosts Ooh!Media's digital revenue by 27%

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