Strong H1 revenue and operational performance across the Group
Year on year revenuegrowth excluding RunningBall and Mackolik of 21%.
15% revenue growth in Q2 (£49.4 million) from Q1 (£43.0 million).
Re-brand and re-launch of Goal has helped to deliver significant growth in the Group's wholly owned website display network to 64 million average monthly unique users in H1 (H1 2012: 34 million).
Strong video and display advertising performance, even without the benefit of Euro 2012, with the establishment of Perform Sporting News and the continued growth of the ePlayer and the Group's owned portals.
Major World Cup 2014 advertising commitments already in place with Puma and Hyundai.
Good progress on the 2014 Watch&Bet renewals; confident of a successful outcome
Discussions held with majority of existing clients and 20 potential new clients, feedback has been positive.
Semi-exclusive model retained, with the number of licensees per territory increased to eight.
Minimum annual fee rather than a minimum number of events; plus cost per user above a certain threshold.
Improved flexibility for licensees to select content that is most relevant for their individual markets.
Option to acquire any additional events on a daily basis, in addition to the minimum annual fee.
Re-rating the prices charged for a majority of events.
Licence period to run until the end of 2016.
Full re-launch of the product to include mobile video as standard, a new match centre providing pre-match and in-play statistics and data visualisation.
Strong delivery of our acquisition strategy
In July 2013 the Group issued 23.9 million new ordinary shares raising total net proceeds of £112.8 million to fund the acquisition of Opta and potential future acquisitions.
Opta, post-acquisition integration and product development commenced and progressing well.
Voetbalzone BV, the number one independent sports site in the Netherlands acquired in March.
Ad Networks KK, the Group's Japanese advertising sales agency acquired in June.
Perform Sporting News Limited, created in March in partnership with US publisher American City Business Journals Inc already ranked top five in the US digital sports media Comscore rankings.
Continued investment in rights, geographical expansion and products
New live rights in H1 2013 included WTA, NBA, a range of new soccer leagues and additional ATP and other tennis tournaments. Over 17,000 events contracted for the full year with 12,000 already contracted for 2014.
Perform appointed official supplier of live data to the betting sector by Football Dataco.
New or renewed rights for the ePlayer in H1 2013 included La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), NBA and NFL (US) and NHL (Canada). The NFL have recently agreed a two year extension from the start of the 2013/2014 season.
56% increase in RunningBall events to 33,222 (H1 2012: 21,285), with beach volleyball and handball increasing the number of sports covered to eight.
ePlayer launched in Brazil and Mexico with further launches planned for H2.
Invested in inhouse advertising sales teams in US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Nigeria, South Africa, the Middle East and the Netherlands.
Re-brand and re-launch of all 36 Goal editions across multiple platforms. Goal now available in 17 different languages. New editions planned for all nations competing in the 2014 World Cup to be launched before the end of the year.
Summary and outlook
As previously announced, advertising and sponsorship revenues represented a higher proportion of total revenues and content distribution a lower proportion, which together with investment in content and staff modestly impacted H1 adjusted EBITDA margin.
£187 million of revenue contracted for full year 2013. £131m of 2012 revenues were contracted at the same point in time in 2012.
Group on track to deliver strong revenue growth and good adjusted EBITDA growth in the current year, in line with the Board's expectations.
The Group's acquisition pipeline remains strong with a number of small and medium sized opportunities.
Oliver Slipper, joint Chief Executive Officer of Perform Group plc commented:
"We are pleased to report a good performance in H1, with year on year revenue growth of 37%. During the period we have invested in new content, products, sales capability and expanded our geographic presence, both organically and through acquisition, in particular in the US and Canada and in the sports data market.
"These investments, together with the planned additional investment in H2, in content, partnerships and further acquisitions will materially strengthen our market position and drive our long-term sustainable growth.
"We are pleased with the progress that has been made on the 2014 Watch&Bet renewals. The new model and products have been presented to existing and potential new licensees and we are pleased with progress. We believe these changes will strengthen Watch&Bet's position as a key product for the online sport betting industry and are confident of a successful renewal process."
