MediaZest narrows losses in best-ever year

Creative audio-visual company MediaZest posted its final results for the year ended 31 March on Friday, reporting its best ever financial results with turnover of £3.14m and EBITDA profit of £0.06m, before a non-cash share option based charge of £0.14m.

The AIM-traded firm achieved 26.6% growth in turnover year-on-year, which its board put down to a combination of new business and expanding project work with its current client base.

It also posted an increase in recurring revenue streams, following strategic targeting of that area by the company to allow for greater visibility of future earnings.

MediaZest improved its average gross margin to 42%, from 32% in the prior year, which it said was a result of improved recurring revenues.

It completed its second Rockar Hyundai dealership at Westfield Stratford in December 2015, and gained a number of new clients during the period including Specsavers, Adidas, Diesel, Mamas and Papas, UGG, Farrow & Ball and John Lewis Partnership.

MediaZest also won two major industry awards - the Retail Week Digital Store of the Year award for the Hyundai Rockar dealership at Bluewater shopping centre, and the Flagship of the Year award from Point of Purchase Advertising International in partnership with Dalziel and Pow.

“There was a one-off, non-cash income statement charge this year of £139,000 relating to the issue of share options under the MediaZest Group Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme,” said MediaZest chairman Lance O’Neill.

The company’s basic loss and diluted loss per share was 0.02p, narrowing from 0.06p in the prior year.

“The group had cash in hand of £9,000 at the year end and an invoice discounting facility over the debtors of MediaZest International Ltd of which £232,000 was in use at 31 March 2016,” O’Neill added.