27th March 2026

Alphabetically arranged

Share prices and market capitalisations taken from Alpha Terminal from the current price on the day of publication.

Top three shareholders are taken from the websites of the companies that we are writing about, unless there is a more up to date TR-1 notification RNS announcement.

 

These scalable businesses in international markets seem ready to perform

AEO  Seeking Hybrid Experiences
BIRD  Wings, at least


Aeorema Communications 57.50p £5.43m (AEO.L) 
Last Reported in Friday Takeaway, 10 October 2025 at 59.5p

Financial Calendar:
(New) Year End December, 18m Report expected in May 2026, Interim to end June, reported 18th September 2025

Top Three Shareholders:
The Hale Agency Superannuation Fund 19.5% & Mr Michael Hale 0.57% (Director), Steve Quah 9.04% (Director), Brian Geary 8.31%

Key Investment Points:
New Clients, Broader Revenue base, Cash for growth

Aeorema provides a suite of bespoke event services through its Cheerful Twentyfirst divisions. The services include advice and a range of events such as live, virtual, and hybrid experiences on behalf of corporate clients, many of whom are listed and in sectors such as finance, professional services, advertising, IT, gaming, fashion, fintech, and beverages.

Yesterday’s update on 26 March for the 18m to December 2025, following a change of YE, upgraded estimates (again) so that revenue is to be no less that £29.4m, compared to £27.5m for 18m 24. PBT is expected at £0.41m (including a one off restructuring cost), so the underlaying profit would be £0.77m compared to £0.318m. This improvement was due to increased operational efficiency from a growing pipeline of retained and new client work. This follows the cost reduction and rebalancing programme, initiated in 2024.

Net cash was £3.1m at the end of June 2025 and a share buyback for up to 5% is ongoing with 2.8% (260,500 shares) purchased so far and the last transaction on 12 March was at 62.5p. On 19 November 2025 a non-executive director bought 25,000 shares at 66p. A 3p interim dividend  was declared  in September in respect of the 12 months to 30 June 2025, as part of a progressive dividend policy, linked to growth in EPS and an increased Dividend can be expected to be paid this year which should be more than a 5% yield with an est. P/E of 14x.

There is growth in key international markets, particularly in North America and EMEA reinforcing its position in strategic communications and as a live experiences expert. A major new event was reported on 13 March, the SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas which is Cheerful Twentyfirst's first internationally recognised media and technology event. Aeorema is broadening its revenue base and building its profile in additional geographies to complement its work at annual Cannes Lions international creative advertising event. There is the highest-ever number of clients contracted for the upcoming festival which remains a major revenue driver.

In North America, Cheerful Twentyfirst has delivered a series of high-profile projects across multiple client sectors which was recognised with a recent industry award for Experiential Agency of the Year. Projects include large-scale brand activations for The Wall Street Journal at the United Nations General Assembly, a multi-day summit for AI-powered advertising platform Smartly, and delivery of industry-leading conferences such as Climate Week. Around 40% of this work is attributable to new client relationships in the region. September also marked the Company's first major step into brand-to-consumer experiences in North America, with an immersive 1,300-person concert for Instacart in New York, further diversifying the client base and capabilities.

The Group enters 2026 with improved operational alignment and positive momentum, supported by a strong pipeline of confirmed work secured for H1 2026.

Hybridan Comment: The shares have been relatively flat over the year, perhaps reflecting the general caution which seems to ignore the success of the corporate and business development.




Blackbird 1.85p £8.89m (BIRD.L) 

Financial Calendar:
Year End December, Reported 23 March 2026, Interims to end June, Reported 29 September 2025

Top Three Shareholders:
Stephen Streater (Director) 13.07%, Premier Miton Group plc 11.73%, Ian McDonough including family interests (Director) 3.26%

Key Investment Points:
Market Ready, International Roll-out, Increasing Revenues


Blackbird listed in 2004 and has development patented video editing technology. It has been a long journey, but the direction of travel has always been to improve and modernise video production workflows, which are cumbersome and inefficient. The business is in the fast-growing SaaS, Media and Entertainment and content creation markets.

There are two products that elegantly perform frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing, editing and reviewing in the cloud. The established Blackbird, a suite of cloud-native computing applications, are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, live events and content owners, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations. The excitement is around the newly launched elevate.io, which runs on any browser on any device, removing the IT procurement barrier that has historically slowed adoption of professional creative tools.

FY December 2025 results were reported this week on 23 March, with revenue 14% lower at £1.38m, but the EBITDA loss reduced 21.5% to £1.68m as lower operating costs were offset by lower revenues. The operating costs are £2.95m compared to £3.60m in 2024 after last year’s restructuring. Key blue-chip clients have renewed such as CBS Sports, NCSA, the global Winter Games in early 2026 and IMG. There is no debt and net cash was £2.72m against £3.77m after raising c. £2.13m at 3p a share on 3 July 2025. A further £0.5m was raised at 2.55p on 18 December 2025 to fund elevate.io through to market fit phase.

Video storytelling for brands and creators is becoming more iterative, more collaborative, and more continuous. elevate.io was built using Blackbird's patient core technology and has the technical architecture and platform to lead and grow with this trend. Market fit product development added additional features such as integrated live review, a text-to-speech AI-powered tool, AI image generation digital asset management functionality, additional timeline items (such as video thumbnails) and an enhanced suite of looks and effects.

elevate.io is aimed at the fast-growing video Creator Economy and professional teams. It helps teams to work concurrently from different locations to give ‘game changing’ improvements in efficiency creating videos with the multiplayer editing and instant review capabilities. In February 2026 the pricing structured was finalised with the inevitable free plan and three paid for categories unlocking different features. The Creator is priced at $10 per month, Pro at $30 per month and Business at $100 per month. The monthly active users were around 1,400 in February 2026 with 388 paying subscribers as at 16 March 2026. Ian McDonough, the Executive Chair and 3.26 % shareholder, bought 2.56m shares at 1.932p this week on 25 March after stating in the audited results on 23 March that he is "more confident in Blackbird today than at any point since" he first invested.

Hybridan Comment: The long development history and frequent fundings have dampened the share price, but the scalable technology seems market ready with an international opportunity.

 


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