TIDMBIDS
RNS Number : 4606N
Bidstack Group PLC
01 February 2021
This announcement contains inside information as stipulated
under the UK version of the Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014
which is part of English Law by virtue of the European (Withdrawal)
Act 2018, as amended. On publication of this announcement, this
information is now considered to be in the public domain.
1 February 2021
Bidstack Group Plc
("Bidstack" or "the Company")
Trading Update
and Directorate Change
Further to its announcement on 17 December 2020, Bidstack Group
Plc (AIM: BIDS.L), the native in-game advertising platform, is
pleased to provide the following trading update for the year ended
31 December 2020 ("FY-2020").
The Company confirms that, subject to non-cash adjustments and
audit, Bidstack has exceeded market expectations in respect of
revenues.
Subject to audit, the Company's results for the year ended 31
December 2020 are expected to include:
-- revenues for the year ended 31 December 2020 of c.GBP1.70m (2019: GBP140k);
-- a loss before tax for the year ended 31 December 2020 of c.GBP7.18m (2019: GBP5.36m);
-- available cash resources as at 31 December 2020 of c.GBP2.35m (2019: GBP3.15m);
-- net assets as at 31 December 2020 of c.GBP2.45m (2019: GBP3.61m); and
-- total headcount as at 31 December 2020 of 69 (2019: 20).
Following receipt of a substantial non-trading cash payment in
January, at the end of January 2021 the Company had available
unaudited cash resources of c.GBP2.76m.
Bidstack continues to work closely with global agencies and
brands in optimising spend in the gaming ecosystem.
Over the second half of 2020 Bidstack's sales network has ramped
up significantly in core markets with a focus on key accounts such
as Dentsu, WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, Interpublic, Accenture and
Havas. Key advertising brands have included Burberry, PUIG,
Duracell, KFC, Doritos, BMW, VW, Acer and Wargaming, broadly
distributed across the consumer staples, luxury, automotive,
technology and food sectors.
As previously announced, advertising briefs received by Bidstack
are evolving from 'test spend' to 'on plan', as advertisers
increasingly recognise native in-game advertising as a dynamic
media channel in their efforts to reach the lucrative video gaming
audience.
Over the same period Bidstack's Approved Partner Network has
grown to approximately 25 member agencies globally, focussed on
monetising non-core markets. The substantial growth of the Approved
Partner Network enables regional and local brands to access in-game
advertising in relevant geographic markets.
Bidstack has now run native in-game campaigns in over 30
countries. While this undoubtedly proves the system works, in 2020
fill rates for native in-game advertising remained in low single
digits. As the Bidstack sales team matures there remains
significant scope for organic growth.
Bidstack's strategy to focus on the world's largest video games
developers and publishers is progressing well. The Company has
exclusivity over an increasing number of titles in which its
technology is integrated. Bidstack maintains strong working
relationships with its key AAA games publishers including Sega,
Codemasters and Ubisoft which has resulted in organic growth across
the portfolio. The pipeline across AAA publishers and independent
publishers remains robust despite typically long sales cycles.
However, given recent experiences, the Board believes that the
current pandemic may well result in a further lengthening of sales
cycles. To address this, Bidstack's strategy will be to concentrate
on the appropriate implementation of its technology even if this is
at the expense of some short term opportunities.
The Board believes that Bidstack is now the leader in the field
of native in-game advertising, both in terms of technology and
revenue generation. It is vital for Bidstack to consolidate its
pole position and keep its focus on the significant economic
success which the Board believes is available to it in the medium
to longer term.
Further updates concerning both the Company's business strategy
and further innovations which are under way will be made at the
time of the publication of Bidstack's audited full year results for
2020.
Bidstack has made strong progress in promoting and standardising
the native in-game advertising format. The Company understands the
importance of educating stakeholders in the drive to grow the
market and Bidstack plays an active role in the IAB's 'In-Game
Advertising Working Group'.
Bidstack's recent collaboration with Moat by Oracle on general
invalid traffic (GIVT) supports our commitment to ensure integrity,
trust and brand safety of native in-game advertising. It is also
supported by Bidstack's certification by other leading media
measurement platforms, Nielsen and Comscore, for mobile traffic.
Together these developments open up advanced brand uplift
measurement for native in-game advertisements.
The total headcount at the end of 2020 stood at 69 (2019: 20)
across the US (San Francisco and New York), UK (London) and Latvia
(Riga). Bidstack continues to strengthen its team and has recently
made four senior commercial hires to drive business objectives,
innovation and to accelerate its new initiatives. Members of the
team bring experience from companies including AWS, Unity, Sony,
Bandai Namco, EA, ESL Gaming, Nike, Google and Mizuho resulting in
a wealth of industry knowledge and networking capabilities which
support Bidstack's publisher acquisition strategy, business
development, IP-licensing and strategic partnerships.
The Company announces it has accepted the resignation of Derek
Wise from the Board. The Board has agreed that Derek's resignation
will take immediate effect to allow him to pursue other business
interests. Derek joined the Board on the 2 July 2019 and has
provided invaluable assistance to Bidstack during his tenure. The
Company will commence the search for a new Non-Executive Director
and further announcements will be made in due course.
James Draper, CEO of Bidstack, said:
"In 2020, Bidstack has made strong and tangible progress towards
our ambition to become the global leading advertising and
monetisation platform for interactive entertainment. Bidstack has
proven its initial concept through bringing premium advertisers
into the world of gaming, securing exclusive contracts with
household name game developers and building the technology
infrastructure to enable both sides to seamlessly transact.
"Our native in-game strategy has been to take no shortcuts from
a technological or commercial perspective. This is now paying off,
with clients planning around our inventory and with our technology
they're able to report transparently on the performance of
campaigns via AdConsole, our proprietary tools, or via their DSP of
choice, such as The Trade Desk.
"I believe that it is now vital that we stick to this strategy.
With the commercial, operational and technological proprietary
data, software and intelligence we have at hand, I believe we are
perfectly positioned to not only identify the end-goal ahead of us
but also to accelerate the journey that takes us there.
"The Board intends to be able to give more guidance about our
plans for 2021 and beyond with the publication of our full year
results for 2020.
"I would also like to thank Derek Wise for his advice and
assistance during his period on the Board of Bidstack. We wish him
well in his future business endeavours."
-ENDS-
Contacts
Bidstack Group PLC
James Draper, CEO via Buchanan
SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nomad)
Mark Brady / Neil Baldwin / James Keeshan +44 (0) 203 368 3550
Stifel Nicholas Europe Limited (Broker)
Fred Walsh/Luisa Orsini Baroni +44 (0) 20 7710 7600
Buchanan Communications Limited
Chris Lane / Stephanie Watson / Kim van
Beeck
bidstack@buchanan.uk.com +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Notes to editors
About Bidstack
Bidstack is an advertising technology company which provides
dynamic, targeted and automated native in-game advertising for the
global video games industry across multiple platforms. Its
proprietary technology is capable of inserting adverts into natural
advertising space within video games. Bidstack's customers are
games publishers and developers (on the supply side), and
advertising agencies, brands and programmatic advertising platforms
(on the demand side).
Bidstack contracts exclusive access to the native in-game
advertising spaces within video games from their developers or
publishers and sells that advertising space either directly to
specific brands and their agencies or through programmatic
advertising platforms
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February 01, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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