Jaywing PLC has announced its interim results this morning, revealing a 20% fall in gross profit, to £12m.
The Sheffield firm has had a well publicised difficult year, having had to delay its annual results following a “very weak” first quarter and then making a series of redundancies in October.
The company said today that its second quarter was better than the first and that cashflow had improved, with net debt down from £7m, to £5.7m.
“As a listed company, the consequences of a weak market have been played out publicly over the last few months and these results to the end of September reflect all of that. Essentially this is all ‘old news’,” said Jaywing CEO, Rob Shaw.
“The good news is that we resolved our funding challenge early and completed the realignment of our cost base. By adopting a new agency model, we’re in a much better position to push things forward in a way that delivers higher quality, more effective work for our clients. Our performance marketing proposition and pedigree in data science mean that we continue have both differentiating and attractive capabilities in areas that are set to grow.”
In October, two of the group’s major shareholders acquired its existing secured loan facility of £5.2m, which was owed to Barclays Bank. They also provided Jaywing with additional secured facilities from £3m, to £8.2m, which meant it could repay its outstanding overdraft and provide additional working capital.
Following the announcements earlier this year, Jaywing has “realigned its cost base”, which included a review of the composition of the Board. That’s seen Chief Operating Officer, Adrian Lingard step down after 4 years with the company.
“Beyond the short term, the Board is considering a range of strategic options to return the Company to highly accretive revenue growth. With its performance marketing proposition and pedigree in data science, Jaywing has some highly attractive capabilities that differentiate it from its competition and position it in areas of marketing spend that are set to grow,” added Martin Boddy, Chairman of Jaywing PLC.
