oOh! Net profit up by 343%

Out of Home continued its strong structural growth momentum and was the fastest-growing major media format in 2022 as the medium continues to leverage enhanced digitisation and more compelling creative content and data to deliver results for advertisers.

oOh! continued to capitalise on audience growth across its key Out of Home formats to deliver a 18% increase in revenue to $592.6 million. Revenue in Road and Retail grew above pre-pandemic (CY19) levels. In contrast, second-half revenue in the Fly format grew 78% over the first half as airline capacity increased back towards pre-COVID levels.

The Company’s substantial operating leverage, combined with ongoing operational discipline, delivered a strong uplift in earnings with Adjusted Underlying EBITDA3 increasing by 64% on the prior year to $127.1 million.

oOh! delivered an Adjusted Net Profit After Tax of $56.2 million.

The Group’s financial position remains strong, which enabled the implementation of the Company’s on-market share buyback and increased dividends to shareholders. oOh! declared a final dividend of 3.0 cents per share, bringing the full-year dividend to 4.5 cents, fully franked.

As the market leader across Australia/New Zealand, oOh! remains uniquely positioned to capitalise on the continued structural growth of Out of Home as advertisers continue to increase their investment and leverage this format to target audience growth. Additionally, there continues to be revenue upside in Fly and Office, where audiences are expected strengthen over 2023.

Overview

• Revenue up 18% to $592.6 million – continued momentum with Road and Retail above CY19 revenue levels

• Adjusted Underlying EBITDA up 64% to $127.1 million with a 6.1 point increase in Adjusted Underlying EBITDA margin reflecting oOh!’s strong operating leverage and focus on effective cost management

• Adjusted NPAT of $56.2 million compared to $12.7 million for the prior year

• Financial position remains strong - gearing ratio down to 0.3 times (from 0.4 times on 30 June 2022) and net debt of $32.9 million on 31 December 2022 (down from $39.8 million on 30 June 2022)

• Reported EBITDA increased by 20% to $288.1 million

• Reported net profit after tax of $31.5 million compared to a loss of $10.3 million in the prior year

Results Commentary – Continued strong momentum leveraging Out of Home growth

Chief Executive Officer, Cathy O’Connor, said oOh! Delivered a strong financial result demonstrating the significant structural growth opportunity of Out of Home as a fast-growing media format.

“Over the course of the year, Out of Home continued its strong structural growth, consistent with its pre-pandemic trajectory and is the fastest-growing major media format in Australia. The Outdoor Media Association recently released the 2022 results where in addition to announcing that Out of Home had exceeded $ 1 billion in net media revenues, it expects a revenue CAGR of 9% over the next four years.

“As the largest player in Out of Home across Australia and New Zealand, we continued to capitalise on this growth to deliver revenue growth of 18% for the year.

“Meanwhile, our strong operating leverage and cost discipline has enabled us to grow earnings faster than revenue with Adjusted Underlying EBITDA growth of 64%.

“That has translated to an Adjusted Net Profit of $56.2 million, up 343% on the prior year.

“We are seeing continued momentum into FY23 with first-quarter revenue pacing at 8% ahead of the prior corresponding quarter last year, with February and March stronger than January.

“I am also pleased with our strategic progress during the year in continuing to build a more digital and digitised Out of Home business.

“During FY23, we launched 477 new digital sites in key locations, including 31 new Road digitals and 21 new and upgraded Retail centres.

“We enhanced our Better Ways to Buy initiative with Brand Buyer Tracking giving advertisers an exclusive opportunity to evaluate and attribute sales results compared to the rest of their category.

“We are enabling advertisers to push Out of Home creative boundaries to capture more of consumers’ attention and deliver superior ROI with the launch of our Full Motion Video network, oOh! Motion, our 3D Anamorphic offering, oOh! Dimensions, and our new content partnerships with the AFL and the Australian Open.

“We are also leveraging our leading retail media presence across Australia with the launch of REOOH, which is an Out of Home solution designed specifically for major retailers to fast-track the growth of their retail media businesses by offering a digital OOH network as part of their integrated retail media offering.

“Meanwhile, we continue to participate in the emerging programmatic digital Out of Home marketplace.

“Together, these initiatives are driving our strategy to lead Out of Home to a digital-first future, capture audience attention in public spaces at scale, and make it easy for advertisers to achieve better outcomes and ROI,” Ms O’Connor said.

Formats

Street Furniture and Rail

Revenue in Street Furniture and Rail increased by 8% to $196.5 million. The prior year included revenue of $9 million from the Sydney Trains contract, which ended at the end of 2021. On a like-for-like basis (excluding the Sydney Trains contract), revenue increased by 14%.

Revenue in Street Furniture was impacted by the introduction of a significantly expanded City of Sydney offering in the second half by a competitor that was expected, and the company expects that the advertising market will adjust to accommodate the expanded breadth of this category during 2023.

Revenue in Rail continued to be impacted by passenger declines in key stations in Melbourne.

Road

The Group’s Road (billboard) division maintained its strong performance, continuing its solid result from the prior year. Revenue for CY22 increased by 21% to $191.1 million.

Revenue was also ahead of 2019 levels, with CY22 revenue up 30% on CY19 as the Group continues to leverage the diversity and scale of its metropolitan and suburban network to deliver results for advertisers.

oOh! added thirty-one digital locations to its metropolitan and regional roadside billboard portfolio during the period and now has over 200 large format digital signs across Australia.

Retail

Revenue in the Retail format increased by 14% to $142.9 million compared to the prior year.

Revenue growth continued the momentum from the first half as advertisers continue to leverage the format to promote brands and products / services within oOh!’s leading retail portfolio. The Retail category continues to grow with the OOH industry, with the retail/lifestyle in the OMA up by 3% in 2019, with new entrants assisting to drive category growth.

Fly

The continued recovery in air travel reflected strong revenue growth in the Fly category, which increased by 176% to $33.8 million on the prior year. Momentum continued during the year as passengers returned, with H2 CY22 revenue increasing by 77% on the first half and the business launched into the Qantas Chairmans Lounge network during the second half.

Locate

Revenue in the Locate format increased by 47% to $17.4 million. Although the revenue recovery compared to pre-pandemic levels continues to be impacted by the slow return of audiences to Central Business District office environments, the Locate segment predominantly has a variable rent profile which ensures it continues to be a highly valuable segment for oOh!.

Other

The Other category primarily includes revenue from the Cactus Imaging business. Other Revenue for the prior year included revenue for Junkee Media’s digital publishing business was divested to the RACAT Group in December 2021.

Strengthened Final Position

The Company’s financial position continued to strengthen during the year, with net debt at 31 December 2022 of $32.9 million compared to $63.5 million at 31 December 2021.

Credit metrics continued to improve with the Company’s gearing ratio (Net Debt / Adjusted Underlying EBITDA) as at 31 December 2022 of 0.3 times, compared 0.8 times at 31 December

2021.