MGI - Media and Games Invest - Google strategic collaboration

MGI – Media and Games Invest has announced a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud that will bring all MGI’s marketplaces together by mid-FY25. As well as result in the obvious scalability advantage, this collaboration should boost the effectiveness of MGI’s privacy-first AI-driven products. Management anticipates it will also generate cost savings of €20m over the next four years. MGI has started the year strongly, with organic revenue growth of 18% in January and 25% in February. Q124 resu

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Back on a growth track

MGI – Media and Games Invest (MGI) had a good Q423, gaining market share in an improving trading environment. Organic revenue growth of 16% in the quarter helped lift the full year figure to +5%. This good momentum has continued into the new year, with 18% revenue growth in January. MGI has leading positions in in-app advertising in the US on both iOS and Android, with the US its largest market at 70% of revenues, and has well established non-identifier-based and AI-driven solutions in the marke

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Building a major global adtech player

MGI – Media and Games Invest (MGI) continues to steadily gain market share in a difficult trading environment. It is the leading mobile open web supply-side platform on both Android and iOS in North America, and second on Android and fifth on iOS in EMEA. Q323 organic net revenue was 1% up on Q322, with early benefits from the €10m annualised cost savings plan helping to lift the adjusted EBITDA margin to 29% (Q322: 26%). The fundamentals for MGI are positive, with its vertical integration givin

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Full stack programmatic advertising platform

MGI – Media and Games Invest operates a programmatic advertising platform that enables publishers and advertisers to achieve their objectives with speed and transparency on the open internet (ie not within the ‘walled gardens’ such as Facebook and Amazon). Its origins in the games sector have given it extensive resources of first party data as well as providing attractive audiences, with the additional benefit that enhancements to the offering can be optimised internally and quickly. MGI’s games

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Building a major global adtech player

MGI – Media and Games Invest (MGI) has been steadily gaining market share in a difficult trading environment. It is now the leading mobile open web supply-side platform (SSP) on both Android and iOS in North America; second on Android and fifth on iOS in EMEA. Continuing weak advertising pricing means that FY23 revenue guidance was pulled back at the interims, but careful cost management should ensure EBITDA is flat over FY22, with an annualised cost-saving programme of €10m also put in place. M

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Building adtech market presence

MGI – Media and Games Invest (MGI) is building a strong position in the programmatic adtech sector, under the Verve name. Its supply (publishing) side is expanding its customer base in a difficult market, with Verve now the largest mobile in-app provider for Google in North America and EMEA and fourth largest on iOS. Verve’s demand (advertising) side is growing strongly, from a lower base. The group’s Q123 revenues were up by 1% (organic, +4% with currency), while lower costs from the slimmed-do

MGI - Media and Games Invest - Sharpening focus in digital advertising

MGI – Media and Games Invest (MGI) is increasingly focused on its vertically integrated multichannel advertising platform, retaining a core of games that serve to generate first-party data and provide an efficient sandpit for developing new services. FY22 results were at the top end of guidance (as revised upwards at Q322), despite the headwind of lower market advertising rates. This scenario has continued in Q123, and we have taken a cautionary approach to our revised FY23 forecasts, which will

Media and Games Invest - Ad tech credentials boosted by Google partnership

Media and Games Invest’s (MGI’s) media operation, Verve Group, has been made a partner on Google’s Open Bidding platform. This gives it far wider reach on both the demand (advertiser) side and supply (publisher) side, accessing inventory (advertising opportunities) via real-time auctions. MGI’s Q3 revenue growth was strong at 39% (23% organic) and FY22 guidance was lifted, with margin pressure from market conditions resulting in unchanged EBITDA guidance. We have adjusted our forecasts according

Media and Games Invest - Swedish re-domicile going ahead

Media and Games Invest’s (MGI’s) recent EGM confirmed that the group can now proceed with its relocation to Sweden, set for January 2023, and the associated improvements to corporate governance, which should remove potential barriers to investment. Q322 results are scheduled for 15 November and, as with Q222, we would expect there to be a benefit from new publishers coming on board with an offset from a more testing economic backdrop. The inclusion of recent acquisition Dataseat from July will b

Media and Games Invest - Focus on ad software platform

Media and Games Invest (MGI) is grasping an opportunity to leverage its extensive first-party data resource, generated through its games content, to build out a full stack advertising software platform that can offer good returns to both advertisers and publishers. Changes to the advertising ecosystem to protect user privacy are prompting a strategic shift to first-party data, with added benefits of improved targeting and transparency. MGI has already assembled a strong offering on the supply si

Media and Games Invest - Acquisition of AxesInMotion

MGI has announced the acquisition of AxesInMotion, a Spanish free-to-play mobile games developer of racing games for €55m in cash up-front, plus up to €110m in earn-out over the three years to 2024. The up-front consideration represents an EV/EBITDA multiple of 9.1x and based on the earn-out, the final EV/EBITDA multiple will fall between 6.8 and 9.1x. Through its integrated games and adtech business, MGI has identified significant synergies from the acquisition, with the potential to triple rev

Media and Games Invest - Adtech player with first-party content

MGI continued to perform strongly in FY21, beating initial guidance and ending up at the top end of the revised guidance. FY21 results showed revenue growth of 80% y-o-y to €252m, with 38% organic growth. Adjusted EBITDA increased 144% y-o-y to €71m, with margins of 28%. In June 2021, the acquisition of Smaato marked the group’s shift to become media led, with MGI evolving to become a content-owning, games-focused adtech platform, with closest peers including Applovin, Azerion and IronSource. Fu

Media and Games Invest - Q321 results, 41% y-o-y organic growth

Media and Games Invest (MGI) showed continued strong growth in Q321, with improving margins as the business scaled. Q321 net revenues rose by 80% to €62.9m, with 41% year-on-year organic revenue growth. Benefiting from operating leverage, adjusted EBITDA tripled to €19.0m as margins rose to 30% (Q320: 18%). In Q321, MGI placed a further €80m bond and, at 30 September 2021, had net interest-bearing debt of €172.8m, with leverage of 3.0x (2.5x on a pro forma basis). Management guidance is for FY21

Alphawave Semi: FY23 trading update, amended forward guidance

Alphawave Semi has reduced guidance for FY23 and prospectively citing lower revenues from China, changes in expected revenue recognition from long-term contracts, and continuing investment in R&D. The share price has reacted negatively, giving up most of the gains since the trading statement at the end of January. Current consensus, which is a good match for pre-existing guidance, should be reduced, most likely following release of the FY23 results and full 1Q24 trading update due on 23 April. H

Audioboom Group - Q1 24 revenue growth of +11%, FY24E forecasts reiterated

Audioboom’s FY23 results and Q1 trading update show Q1 24 revenue growth of +11% yoy, $6.7m of March 2024 revenue marking the platform’s highest revenue month since May 2022, and a confident outlook that leads us to reiterate our FY24E forecasts. Following the focus on new initiatives through FY23, the platform is now in its strongest ever operational position, with a record 1.1bn monthly ad impressions created in March 2024, record global audience reach of 38.6m unique global listeners in Janua

Crimson Tide - FY23 reports +15% revenue; investment phase complete

Crimson Tide has reported FY23 results to December in line with expectations, with additional operating leverage benefitting updated FY24 and maiden FY25 and FY26 forecasts. FY23 delivered +15% revenue growth to £6.2m at 86% GM, of which over 90% is recurring, and maintained £5.8m ARR even after unexpected customer churn in the year as we previously noted. Crucially, the Group achieved milestone adj EBITDA profitability of £0.4m at 7% EBITDA margin, and edges closer to adj PBT profitability expe

Morning Note – 16 April 2024

Devolver Digital (DEVO LN) - Rebuild year

Devolver Digital encouragingly delivered 2023 results slightly ahead of expectations and provided a steady medium-term outlook that leads us to reiterate our 2024 Adjusted EBITDA estimates. Longer term, the company is now planning to further develop its two major planned titles, Human Fall Flat 2 and System Era's next major new release. We now expect those major titles to be released in 2026 rather than 2025, meaning we lower our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA forecast to $10.6m from $17.6m but introduce

Morning Note – 15 April 2024

Checkit - New product launch and contract wins

Checkit has won contracts with two customers worth at least £417k over the three-year lives of the contracts, confirming its ability to upsell to its existing customer base and supporting our forecasts. Having trialled the new technology with multiple customers, Checkit has launched its Asset Intelligence module, which uses advanced analytics and machine learning to enhance customer sustainability, reduce costs and increase revenue.

Soft growth patch

Intelligent Ultrasound Group - GE Healthcare launches new Voluson Signature with

GE Healthcare has announced the launch of the Voluson Signature 20 and 18 ultrasound systems, with the related press release noting these systems ‘comprehensively integrate artificial intelligence’ to improve the ultrasound procedure for clinicians and the women being scanned. These ultrasound systems include SonoLyst, the AI which incorporates Intelligent Ultrasound’s ScanNav Assist and ScanNav AutoCapture AI software. The launch of additional Voluson systems including the SonoLyst suite of AI

Auction Technology Group - H1/24 Trading update

ATG’s H1/24 trading statement indicates revenue for the six-month period to 31 March 2024 was $86m, a 6% increase on H1/23 (1% organic growth), helped by the addition of the EstateSales.Net (ESN) marketplace last year, which performed well in the period. Total marketplace revenue increased 2% (organic), driven by growth in value-added services (VAS) and event fees, offsetting a decline in commission revenue (mainly through lower asset prices).

Morning Note – 17 April 2024

Touchstar - Full year results: Recurring revenue strategy delivers further profit growth

Touchstar is a supplier of mobile data computing solutions and managed services to a variety of industrial sectors. This morning's full year results reflect the outcome of a multi-year strategy coming to fruition for the group, with recurring revenue growth of 8.7% delivering overall revenue growth of 7.1% and in turn a 60% increase in PBT to £0.7m. Over the past few years, Touchstar has focused on enhancing the returns from their product offering through a shift towards recurring software licen

It’s not what you sell, it’s the way that you sell it

This report is intended to help UK small- and mid-cap investors gain a better understanding of software companies’ routes to market, and to highlight how one of the most important facets of the way in which they grow and deliver value is routinely ignored.  We examine sales processes for six UK-listed companies and one that has recently been taken over, and consider why they have followed their respective paths.

LIBERUM: Cirata plc: Cirata from the flames

Engage XR Holdings - Expanding from FY23, FY24E forecasts reiterated

ENGAGE XR’s FY23 results show revenue and net cash in line with the February trading update, EBITDA ahead at -€4.0m vs -€4.5m due to the split of cash outflow between opex and working capital, and a confident outlook that leads us to reiterate our FY24E forecasts. FY23 revenue for the core ENGAGE platform was unchanged vs FY22 at €3.3m, as H2 23 revenue was impacted by the record seven-figure contract announced in February shifting to 2024, and several enterprise customers scaling back renewals