Mirriad Advertising (MIRI ) announced trading for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 (FY22) was robust with revenue for the year to come in at £1.52m-£1.75m, slightly short of market expectations, pending a number of late deals which will now be delivered just before the period-end or carried over to 2023.
However, Mirriad expects to have a cash position of £11.5m on 31 December 2022, with year-end cash to exceed market expectations due to cost control measures implemented during the period and strong growth in US$ sales.
Mirriad said its US revenues are to grow between 36% and 64% to between £1.2m and £1.45m, now accounting for 80% of total revenue despite the unfavourable exchange rate in the latter half of the year.
Mirriad's cost control programme is expected to deliver £2.5m of total annualised savings, with the majority to be achieved in 2023.
Therefore, EBITDA loss of £15.5m is expected to be in-line with market expectations.
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While markets have focused on Mirriad's downgraded revenue numbers, which are still difficult to predict due to the closing of several outstanding deals, the company's balance sheet overall remains strong and potentially surpassing consensus estimates.
Notwithstanding the above, Mirriad performed well across a number of KPIs in 2022, with strong momentum in the key US market, despite an unfavourable exchange rate, as the business continues to rebalance away from China.
Mirriad ended the year in a better cash position than forecast, thanks to ongoing efficiency measures and a cost control programme implemented during the period delivering £2.5m of total annualised savings, though most of that will materialise in 2023.
Mirriad's momentum in the US is underpinned by a much increased number of supply partners, from 18 at the end of 1H22 to 47 at the end of November 2022. The number of campaigns booked similarly increased to 29 from 23 in FY21, and the number of advertising agency partners increased to 13, compared to 7 at end of 1H22. Progress across these non-financial KPIs should translate to recognised revenue in FY23.
Mirriad's reputation in the US is also growing as the company has established itself as a leader in the in-content advertising space, having recently won the AdExchanger Award for most innovative TV advertising technology.
Mirriad's AI-powered in-content platform, recently used in programmatic transactions, places brands directly in content, allowing companies to engage with viewers in scenes that would not be skipped or ignored. Data shows this increases advertisers' reach by 24% on average. Click here for our detailed coverage of Mirriad's platform.
As streaming opens up to advertising, Mirriad's patented platform is well-placed to benefit from the needs of a global advertising industry that is facing challenges of ad-skipping, dwindling viewer attention, and oversaturation of limited ad space. Independent research has shown that in-content placements are preferred by viewers and drive more favourability, consideration, and sales.
With 2 weeks of trading still remaining in the year, Mirriad's final revenue numbers will show that its sales are backloaded to Q4, with a significant volume of requests-for-proposal received during the busy holiday season.
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