Brave Bison nears breakeven as Facebook advertising boosts revenue

Brave Bison on Wednesday almost achieved breakeven following a "transformative" year in which Facebook advertising resulted in an increase in revenue.

For 2018, the social video company achieved revenue of £21.2m, an increase of 19% compared to the year before, which helped the company reduce its loss before tax from £17.2m to just £0.1m.

Revenue increased after advertising revenue jumped by £5.3m to £17.8m as Facebook platform advertising benefited from a significant increase in views across the company's portfolio of 20 owned and operated social media communities.

Meanwhile, Fee Based Services revenue decreased from £5.3m to £3.4m due to the loss of a significant contract with a major Hollywood movie studio that ended in the first quarter of 2017, with branded content revenues also down year-on-year in APAC and UK.

The reduction in losses was also assisted by the absence of the one-off impairment charge of £12.2m that Brave Bison had to pay the year before from the impairment of technology and customer relationship intangible assets.

The AIM traded company also swung to positive adjusted earnings (EBITDA) of £0.8m from a £0.9m loss.

Claire Hungate, chief executive of Brave Bison, said: "2018 has been a transformative year for Brave Bison in terms of our financial results, our market positioning, and the value we have created for shareholders. I am delighted with what we achieved in the year, particularly becoming adjusted EBITDA positive and Tubular Labs listing us as the biggest publisher on Facebook based on views."

Over the course of the year, Brave Bison's headcount, including contractors, increased by 13% to 62 people as a result of investment in the company's owned and operated channels, business development in the UK, and expansion of its Asia Pacific office.

Cash and cash equivalents finished the year at £5.4m, up from the £4.8m recorded at the same point the year before.

"Looking ahead, while there are challenges of running a digital media business, there are also a lot of opportunities to capitalise on, in a world increasingly dominated by social media and video content," said Hungate.

Brave Bison's shares were down 13.97% at 2.92p at 1058 GMT.