Rentabiliweb: Excellent Balance Sheet for 2009

    BRUSSELS, March 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
    - Rise in All Indicators
    - EBITDA Tops EUR12 Million, a 17.6% Increase
    - 16.3% Increase in Sales, 100% Organic
    - EBITDA Margin Rises 18.4%
    - Net Income up 11.7% to EUR 7.5 Million

Rentabiliweb Group has today published its yearly accounts for 2009. The Group has an excellent balance sheet for 2009 with growth in sales, EBITDA margin, EBITDA and net income. It has confirmed the robustness of its business model in times of economic crisis and its flexibility in a period in which an economic recovery is starting.

In a context characterized by a drop in advertising revenues and particularly aggressive competition in terms of new customer acquisition, the Group nonetheless, as it had expected, achieved operational and financial performances better than those on its market:

    - EUR 65,444 K in sales, up 16.3%
    - EUR 12,043 K in EBITDA, up 17.6%
    - 18.4% EBITDA margin compared to 18.2% in 2008
    - EUR 7,452 K in net income, up 11.7%
    - EUR 15,241 K in cash

"We are following our roadmap perfectly. Thanks to the balance of our business models, in 2009 we achieved profitable growth in our businesses while continuing to invest for the future," stated Jean-Baptiste Descroix-Vernier, Chairman of Rentabiliweb Group. "We have set up the growth engines for 2010 and 2011. The Group's recent transfer onto Euronext Paris and Brussels and the new opportunities that this will open are an additional motivation for our staff."

    EUR K                        30.12.2009   31.12.2008      Var.

    Sales                          65,444       56,268       +16.3%
    Gross margin                   33,522       27,428       +22.2%
    in % of Sales                   51.2%        48.7%           --
    EBITDA                         12,043       10,241       +17.6%
    in % of Sales                   18.4%        18.2%           --
    Operating income for period    11,358       10,115       +12.3%
    in % of Sales                   17.4%        18.0%           --
    Operating income               11,115       10,036       +10.8%
    Tax on earnings               (3,639)      (3,361)        +8.3%
    Net income                      7,452        6,670       +11.7%
    in % of Sales                   11.4%        11.9%           --

Strong growth that is entirely organic and highly profitable

Rentabiliweb Group's sales reached EUR 65,444, an increase of 16.3%. As anticipated, this performance, with entirely organic growth, results from the buoyant publishing (B-to-C) and monetization services (B-to-B) activities, which account for 61.8% and 38.2% of the consolidated sales for 2009 respectively.

The publishing business (B-to-C[1] - audience monetization on its own account) grew 24.5% over the year. It now accounts for 61.8% of sales, compared to 57.7% in 2008.

This dynamism results from continued advertising and promotional investment started at the beginning of the year, increased sharply in the second half of the year, and the launch of subscription offers and trial offers that are attractive to Internet users. In addition, in the second half of the year, efforts were concentrated on improving the offers for the Group's networks of affiliates, which led to more effective promotion of the dating and games services. As well, the building of a comprehensive package of services and a full range of entertainment sites backed by constant control of traffic sources and customer acquisition costs led to cross selling between the various themes in the portfolio and helped to increase revenue for each customer. Cross selling between games sites, dating sites and adult sites was particularly effective and profitable.

The gross margin for the publishing business rose 20.3%, reaching EUR 25.5 million, and accounted for 76% of the consolidated gross margin for the year. The EBITDA reached EUR 11 million, up 36% for the year, with growth of 55.5% between the first and second halves of the year, thanks to stronger performance from the casual gaming and dating activities, which were particularly effective at generating margin.

The third-party monetization services business (B-to-B[2]) also contributed to the Group's growth, with a 5% increase in sales, thanks namely to a particularly dynamic second half of the year.

The business was boosted by fast-growing performance-oriented solutions, namely e-mail and SMS loyalty programs and cashback solutions such as http://www.mailorama.fr and http://www.textorama.fr, with constant growth of 53.5% over the year.

Alongside this, on the strength of eight years of experience and excellence in monetizing the audiences of its partners on Internet and mobile phones, since the fourth quarter of 2009, Rentabiliweb has offered the major traditional media (radio, press and TV) innovative, customized solutions to communicate on a large scale with their customers and generate loyalty and profits from their audiences. This new activity gives the Group a unique positioning enabling it to offer profitable Interactive Voice Services and SMS+ services, for all on and off-line audiences, whatever the media: Internet sites and mobile phones, radio shows, reality TV shows, the press, magazines and more. For instance, since launching its offer to offline media, the Group has signed partnership agreements with the Lagardere Group (Europe 1, Virgin Radio, RFM and MCM), GIE des Independants (a group of local radio stations) and the Zed Group.

In terms of contributions, the B-to-B activity generated a gross margin of EUR 8 million, an increase of 28.8%, but a decrease in B-to-B EBITDA of 52.4% to reach EUR 1 million for the year. This temporary, yet expected decrease in the B-to-B margin stems from a technical infrastructure investment strategy destined to absorb larger volumes and strengthen the platform's levels of security. It also results from targeted recruitment conducted throughout the year in order to develop the Group's new activities and, more marginally, sales efforts aiming to maintain the position of challenger in Europe in the field of micropayment solutions.

High operational profitability with a net income rate of 11.4%

As anticipated and announced, the strategic orientation and growing importance of publishing activities (B-to-C) are driving profitability, resulting in a 17.6% increase in the consolidated EBITDA, at over EUR 12 million.

This performance takes into account strong control of operating costs stabilized at 82.6% (payouts included) of sales and an increase in payroll charges stemming from targeted recruitment of new staff.

Operating income for 2009 reached EUR 11.1 million, up 10.8%, and the net income stood at EUR 7.5 million, an 11.7% increase, bringing the net margin to 11.4% of sales.

It should be noted that, with the non-recurring revenue from 2008, estimated at EUR 700 K following a dispute that opposed the Group with a dating software publisher, the increase in operating income would have reached 19% and that for net income would have been 20%.

An even more solid financial structure

During 2009, Rentabiliweb further strengthened and solidified its financial structure with a EUR 6.5 million increase in equity capital, bringing it to EUR 43,225 K, nearly no financial debt and cash of EUR 15.2 million.

The cashflow generated by the business reached EUR 8 million, enabling EUR 1.7 million in investments on equipment to optimize the Group's network architecture and payment platform.

It should be noted that there is a partially non-recurring variation of nearly EUR 4 million in the WCR due to a delay around the balance sheet date in collecting payment from some clients for which there is no risk.

See this press release at: http://www.rentabiliweb.org/actualites/?p=1929

About Rentabiliweb

Founded in 2002, Rentabiliweb is a major player in digital audience monetization.

The Rentabiliweb Group offers Internet professionals and webmasters the largest platform of website traffic monetization services, primarily payment and micropayment solutions. It also runs affiliate programs, offers online advertising space brokerage services and provides renowned expertise in loyalty and Direct Marketing solutions.

Rentabiliweb is also one of the premier French-language publishers, with a package of services spanning the full range of mass-market entertainment, from community services, family games and services for the general public to recommendations for Internet users, personal ads, dating services and more.

In 2009, Rentabiliweb's sales topped EUR 65 million. The Group is expected to generate continued growth in its annual EBITDA margin (EBITDA / Sales) for 2009 (consolidated figures).

For more information, visit: http://www.rentabiliweb.org

[1] B-to-C: Publishing activities that include casual gaming and community sites, dating sites (straight and gay) as well as sites for personal services

[2] B-to-B: third-party monetization service activities including the payment and micropayment businesses, advertising solutions, e-mail and SMS database monetization solutions and cashback solutions

IMAGE SEPT: Anne Auchatraire, Grégoire Lucas, +33(0)1-53-70-74-70, [email protected], [email protected]; Communication financière - Investisseurs CALYPTUS : Mathieu Calleux, +33(0)1-53-65-37-91, [email protected]

SOURCE Rentabiliweb