Mirriad makes good operational progress as losses widen

The AIM-traded firm said its net assets were up 129% year-on-year at £27.9m, following its successful initial public offering in December.

Its operating loss widened 55% to £11.3m, however, as the group established new offices and hired additional staff, and invested in its technology.

On the operational front, Mirriad highlighted its admission to AIM following its successful IPO on 19 December, raising £23.7m net of associated costs.

The group ran its largest single campaign in China in the fourth quarter, generating total impressions for the advertiser in excess of 800 million, with “strong” post campaign research results.

A contract was signed in the US with Spanish-language media conglomerate Univision in October, and the group also signed an extended term on its existing contract with Globosat in Brazil in September, extending the term by a further five years from the start of the original contract.

It also signed a contract in Europe with RTL Germany in May.

Mirriad’s total number of granted patents increased to 11 during the year, with seven additional patents pending as at 31 December.

They covered the company's core technology, and were registered in a variety of territories including Europe and the US.

A Chinese application was confirmed as pending in August

Grant funding was secured from the European Union's Eureka Eurostars programme for the ‘Valence’ project during the year, which the board said covered location-based contextual advertising in February, with total funding of £0.3m awarded over the period of the grant.

Since the period ended, Mirriad renewed its contract with Youku - a subsidiary of Alibaba - on a non-exclusive basis, allowing it to work with other customers in the Chinese market.

A new contract was also agreed with with NBCU in the US market, which the group said it was now focused on implementing.

It also saw investment from Jinhua Puhua Tianqin Equity Investment Fund Partnership - a capital fund established in Jinhua in the People's Republic of China - at 62p per share, raising approximately £2m before costs, on 24 April.

“We are maintaining our focus on the world's largest and fastest growing advertising markets which are also markets with high video consumption,” said chief executive Mark Popkiewicz.

“In China we successfully delivered the group's largest ever in-video advertising campaign at the end of 2017 closely followed by independent research which has clearly confirmed the efficacy and effectiveness of Mirriad in-video advertising.”

Popkiewicz said that as a result of the funds raised in the successful IPO, the firm was actively engaged in rolling out its new in-video ad unit, management platform and services to key customers.

“We believe this will lay the foundations for future revenue growth.”