Shares in Digitalbox (DBOX ) jumped by over 20% on Thursday after it confirmed to investors that trading across its three brands had been ‘stronger than anticipated’ in December 2021.
The mobile-first digital media business, which owns the websites Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash and The Tab, said December is traditionally its most important trading period.
As a result of the performance, Digitalbox said it expects revenue and EBITDA for the year to 31 December 2021 to be ‘significantly ahead’ of the recently upgraded market consensus of EBITDA* of £850,000, with revenue now expected to be not less than £3.6 million.
It said the strong trading resulted from the continued positive trend towards mobile advertising inventory, and better-than-expected traffic from increased editorial investment over the period.
In a trading update released in December, the Group told investors that it expected revenue and EBITDA for the year to 31 December 2021 to be “significantly ahead” of expectations.
At the time, the Company chose to upgrade its previous market consensus of £0.7m EBITDA for FY21. It said it expected to report revenue no less than £3.3m for the twelve month period.
Digitalbox, which generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and around the content it publishes, said trading across its three brands had been stronger than anticipated in the second half of the year, therefore representing the Company’s biggest trading period.
The Company noted that the positive trend in the UK mobile advertising market has continued which has contributed to the revenue overperformance as well as ‘some very strong traffic.’
In its second half, the Group attributed larger audiences to the popularity of the seasonal TV stalwarts Strictly Come Dancing and I’m A Celebrity on its Entertainment Daily website.
The Daily Mash’s spin-off show which debuted on Dave has driven audiences on Late Night Mash while Netflix’s latest TV series Squid Game has engaged more readers on The Tab.
Digitalbox’s Entertainment Daily produces and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity news; The Daily Mash produces and publishes satirical news content; while The Tab is the UK’s biggest youth culture site fuelled by students.
Digitalbox outlined to investors that its strategic focus remains ‘creating compelling content optimised for mobile’. The Company said this has delivered ‘disproportionate growth’ in its advertising revenues to date, owing to increased demand for high-quality mobile inventory.
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