AcuityAds Holdings Inc. (TSX:AT) (NASDAQ:ATY) (“AcuityAds” or “Company”), a Journey Advertising technology company that empowers marketers to make smarter decisions about communicating with online consumers, today announced its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2022.
Second Quarter 2022 Highlights
- Total revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2022, was $28.3 million, up 18.6% sequentially. On a year over year basis, revenues decreased by 6.6% which was largely anticipated as we continue to build and transition our sales team from our legacy DSP product to our Journey Advertising product, illumin. As previously communicated, we believe our new sales personnel will become more productive in the second half of FY2022. However, the Company remains mindful of potential macro-economic headwinds and is monitoring the situation accordingly.
- illumin second quarter revenue rose 96.1% year over year to $10.2 million or 36% of total revenue.
- illumin self-serve revenue increased 94% sequentially to $1.0 million, while illumin self-serve clients grew 24% sequentially.
- Second quarter 2022 gross margin was 51.9%, compared to 52.2% in 2021.
- Net revenue or gross profit (revenue less media costs) for the three months ended June 30, 2022 was $14.7 million, compared to $15.8 million for the same period in 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA was $1.5 million for the second quarter of 2022, compared to $5.4 million in the prior year.
- Q2 2022 net income was $0.9 million, compared to $3.4 million in Q2 2021, primarily due to our previously communicated strategic investments in both R&D and sales.
- During the second quarter of 2022, the Company repurchased 2,269,480 of its common shares at an average price of $3.15 per share for total consideration of $7,140,296. As of August 5, 2022, the Company has repurchased 3,525,620 of its common shares for total consideration of $11,143,292.
- At June 30, 2022, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $92.5 million, compared to $102.2 million as of December 31, 2021, reflecting share repurchases during the quarter.
“During the second quarter, revenue from illumin, our Journey Advertising platform, grew 96% year-over-year, reaching $10.2 million or 36% of total revenue,” said Tal Hayek, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AcuityAds. “While total company revenue was lower than the prior year due to salesforce transition issues, we continue to see growing adoption of illumin-particularly in self-serve usage. Our strategic initiatives to grow illumin self-serve revenues have already begun to pay off as these revenues grew 94% sequentially, even as illumin self-serve clients grew 24%. This sequential growth supports our belief that illumin’s tremendous ease of use naturally lends itself to self-serve operation and we expect to see continued growth.”
Mr. Hayek continued, “Looking ahead, we believe we will realize further benefits from our strategic investments in R&D, Sales and Marketing. These initiatives will also prepare our organization for its next growth phase. Based on customer demand and our current expectations, we anticipate resuming solid year-over-year revenue growth in the third and fourth quarter of 2022, despite the challenging macro-environment. We remain confident that we are taking the right actions to generate long-term shareholder value, highlighted by our share repurchase activity in the quarter.”
Elliot Muchnik, AcuityAds’ Chief Financial Officer, commented, “We continued to see strong demand for illumin in the quarter, which drove over 30% of sequential illumin revenue growth. The Company repurchased 2.3 million of our common shares for $7.1 million via the normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) we initiated in the quarter. The Company is permitted to purchase up to 5.5 million of the Company’s common shares over the course of the year. This share buy-back underscores our confidence in our balance sheet as well as our fundamental belief in the Company’s long-term prospects. In addition, our healthy balance sheet and considerable liquidity allows us to continue to explore M&A opportunities that fit our corporate strategy.”
The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods ended:
Conference Call Details:
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Time: 8:30AM Eastern Time
To register for the conference call webcast and presentation, please visit
https://illumin.com/investors/earnings-call/
Participant Dial-in Numbers:
Session ID 371702
Session PIN 4375
Dial-in numbers
+1 833 790 7344 US (Toll-free)
+1 650 514 4442 US (North California)
+1 360 244 4406 US (Tacoma)
+1 281 394 4441 US (Texas)
+1 619 603 4444 US (South California)
+44 752 064 5003 United Kingdom
Please connect at 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure time for any software download that may be needed to hear the webcast.
A recording of the conference call webcast will be available after the call by visiting the Company’s website at https://illumin.com/investors/.
Non-IFRS Measures
This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management’s perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. We use non-IFRS measures including “revenue less media costs”, “revenue less media costs margin”, “Adjusted EBITDA” and “Adjusted Net Income (Loss)” (as well as other measures discussed elsewhere in this press release).
The term “revenue less media costs margin” refers to the amount that “revenue less media costs” represents as a percentage of total revenue for a given period, while the term “revenue less media costs” refers to the net amount of revenue after deducting direct media costs. Revenue less media costs is used for internal management purposes as an indicator of the performance of the Company’s solution in balancing the goals of delivering excellent results to advertisers while meeting the Company’s margin objectives and, accordingly the Company believes it is useful supplemental information.
“Adjusted EBITDA” refers to net income (loss) after adjusting for finance costs, impairment loss, fair value gain, income taxes, foreign exchange gain (loss), depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, acquisition and related integration costs, severance expenses and adjustments to the carrying value of investment tax credits receivable. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of the results generated by the Company’s main business activities before taking into consideration how those activities are financed and taxed and also prior to taking into consideration depreciation of property and equipment and certain other items listed above. It is a key measure used by the Company’s management and board of directors to understand and evaluate the Company’s operating performance, to prepare annual budgets and to help develop operating plans.
“Adjusted Net Income (Loss)” refers to net income (loss) after adjusting for non-cash items such as impairment loss, fair value gain, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation and foreign exchange gain/loss. The Company believes that Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is useful supplemental information as it provides an indication of the results generated by the Company’s main business activities on a cash basis. It is another key measure used by the Company’s management and board of directors to understand and evaluate the Company’s operating performance, to prepare annual budgets and to help develop operating plans.
These non-IFRS measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers, and that these non-IFRS measures in particular are relevant to their analysis of the Company.
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