Very few companies escaped the pain of the savage falls which occurred across the ASX on Monday. By the close of trade the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) had crashed a whopping 4.1%.
Bucking the trend however was recently listed outdoor advertising specialist APN Outdoor Group Ltd (ASX: APO), which pleased the market with a strong set of interim results and an upgrade to its full year guidance.
Here's what happened:
- Revenue up 25% to $136.3 million
- Pro forma net profit after tax but before amortisation (NPATA) up 188% to $14 million
- Adjusted earnings per share jumped from 2.9 cents per share (cps) to 8.4 cps
- Market share growth in Australia and New Zealand
- 12 Elite Screen approvals in 2015
- Sydney Airport and WA Buses contract renewals
- XtrackTV expanded into Brisbane
- NZ strategic acquisition of Roadside Attractions completed which added 113 key roadside billboard sites to the group
- APN announced a fully franked maiden interim dividend of 4.5 cps with an ex-dividend date of September 4 and a payment date of September 21
Outlook
The solid results achieved by APN Outdoor will likely have shareholders of previous parent company APN News and Media Limited (ASX: APN) pondering if the decision to offload this quality business was the right one?
While some forms of media, particularly free-to-air television, face a structurally challenged future, the outlook for outdoor advertising is positive.
As the CEO of APN Outdoor noted:
"The Outdoor industry's attractiveness to advertisers continues to strengthen with increasing audience potentials due to population growth and a rise in daily journeys. Against a backdrop of some other media's audience declines, Outdoor's relevance to advertisers is increasingly recognised."
The positive tailwinds are benefiting APN with the group upgrading its guidance to now expect earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to come in for the full year ending December 31 2015 at a mid-teen increase above the prospectus forecast of $53.7 million.
