SeoPapers - article blinkx Reports Financials

San Francisco, California - (Website Hosting Directory) - November 10, 2008 - Search engine, blinkx, has reported financial results for the six months ended 30 September 2008, indicating a strong revenue surge.

Suranga Chandratillake, Founder and CEO, blinkx noted, ''We are pleased to report a very strong performance this period, with both revenue and bottom line ahead of analyst consensus. In the last six months we continued to demonstrate significant momentum on all fronts – introducing four new products, signing a host of top-tier partners including ITN, MSN UK and Getty Images, and realizing substantial advertising revenues though the blinkx AdHoc platform. With a 681% growth in traffic between June 2007 and July 2008 in the UK alone, blinkx has cemented its position as the remote control for online television.''

Highlights of the report include:
• Strong revenue growth up 115% to $6.4m from first half FY08***
• Top and bottom line performance ahead of analyst consensus
• Gross profits up 106% to $4.5m from first half FY08***
• Unique visitors up 106% year on year to 64 million and page views up 267% year on year to 668 million in September 2008 (source: comScore)
• Cash balances of $32.4m at period end
• Daily Video Search run rate of over 7,000,000 per day in September 2008
• Content hours increased 78% year on year, from 18.5 million to 32 million
• 70 new content partners added, bringing total to over 420 media organizations, including Getty Images, Time Inc. and CBS
• Addition of top-tier syndication partners, including ITN, MSN UK and Rambler
• Introduction of four new strategic technology offerings:
o blinkx Red Label
o blinkx Remote
o blinkx 3D
o blinkx Broadband Television (BBTV)
• Successful execution of campaigns for leading advertisers, including Coke, Exxon, and Mercedes
*** first half FY08 contains 23 weeks of trading

Other Financial Highlights include:
For the first half 2009 (six months ending 30 September 2008), revenues totaled $6.4 million increasing 115% over the $3.0 million in revenues reported for the period from 23 April (incorporation) through 30 September 2007 which contained 23 weeks of trading. Gross profit for the first half of FY2009 was $4.5 million representing a gross margin of 71%. Gross profit for the period from 23 April through 30 September 2007 was $2.2 million, representing a gross margin of 74%. Net loss for the first half of FY2009 was $3.3 million. Net loss for the period from 23 April through 30 September 2007, before non-recurring costs related to the IPO and demerger, was $1.4 million (including non-recurring costs: $12.9 million). Loss per share for the first half of FY2009 (adjusted and unadjusted) was 1.17 cents. Adjusted loss per share for period from 23 April through 30 September 2007, before one-off costs related to the IPO and demerger was 0.62 cents (unadjusted: 5.62 cents). blinkx’s cash balance at 30 September 2008 was $32.4 million.

Customer and Business Developments
Strong demand for blinkx's unique, patented search functionality has further cemented blinkx's position as the gold standard in video search this period. High-profile new syndication customers included Microsoft (MSN UK), Brazilian media company Elo Audiovisual, AnSearch and Russia's largest portal, Rambler.

In the past six months, blinkx has grown its roster of premier media partners to over 420, including the addition of programming from industry leaders such as Getty Images, Time Inc. and CBS.

blinkx AdHoc, the first contextual advertising platform for online TV, has gone from strength to strength in the first six months of FY2009, powering advertising campaigns for top brands such as Puma and Smirnoff. Moreover, based on the success of its initial campaigns on www.blinkx.com, leading news organization ITN augmented the scope of its advertising partnership with blinkx during the period. Under the terms of the extension agreement, ITN is using AdHoc to serve contextual video advertisements on the ITN website and its syndication partner sites, including Bebo.com. blinkx's index of fully searchable online video has now surpassed 32 million hours, increasing 73% in the last 12 months, from 18.5 million hours.

Mr. Chandratillake continued: ''While the macro environment demands a conservative view, with pressure on advertising reported by major players in the market, blinkx has benefited from the strong secular growth in online video. Over the past 12 months, online video has undergone a sea change - what was once the domain of short-form, user-generated material, has become the realm of prime time television content. This year, major networks and media companies committed to the Internet as a distribution mechanism for their premium programming. As the world’s largest, most advanced video search engine, blinkx is ideally positioned to help audiences navigate this broad, fragmented universe of high-quality programming. In addition, blinkx's AdHoc advertising platform continues to attract advertisers drawn to our technology's unique ability to provide targeted, action-oriented advertising within a video context.''

Product and Technology Developments include:
During the first six months of FY2009 blinkx continued to lead the industry with unique and disruptive product launches, introducing four new offerings based on its patented technology. Highlights included the release of blinkx Broadband Television (BBTV) in April 2008, blinkx Remote in August 2008, and a Web-based version of BBTV in September 2008.

blinkx Remote is an advanced tool for finding full-length TV episodes on the Web. It aggregates information and access to full-length television programs on the Internet, offering audiences a single gateway for finding TV shows by channel, season, episode, title or genre, both quickly and legally.

blinkx was also first-to-market with a Web-based version of its broadband television product, blinkx BBTV. blinkx BBTV in the browser fuses a high-quality TV experience with the interactive power of the Web, without any software download.

In July 2008, blinkx, began to syndicate its video search capabilities through blinkx Red Label - an offering that deploys blinkx’s patented video search technology on customers' sites, enabling them to derive new revenue through advertising.

In addition, blinkx announced the availability of blinkx 3D to capitalize on the growing popularity of 3-D virtual worlds. Gartner Research predicted that 80% of all active Internet users will have a virtual-world presence by 2011 and blinkx 3D establishes a beachhead from which blinkx will continue to develop its presence and participation in these types of online communities.

Company Developments include:
During the period blinkx experienced dramatic expansion in its user base to 64 million unique visitors in September 2008 from 56 million unique visitors in March 2008. (source: comScore), and was recognized by third-party research and reporting firms as one of the fastest growing websites on the Internet. According to Compete.com, blinkx is the fastest growing video site among the top 20 video competitors in the U.S. In another report, Nielsen Online listed blinkx.com as the ninth fastest growing site in the U.K. as its traffic soared 681% between June 2007 and July 2008.

Operationally blinkx expanded during the past six months to support growth and new initiatives, increasing headcount to 52 employees at 30 September 2008. Key individuals joined the blinkx sales team in order to capitalize on the thriving online video advertising market. In addition, blinkx grew its executive management team with the appointment of Jonathan Spira as Chief Financial Officer, a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology and media industries.

Mr. Chandratillake concluded: ''We have taken a conservative view of the macro situation and balanced that against the strong growth of the online video market. We therefore believe that in spite of the current macro-economic conditions, we expect blinkx to be able to report continued strong growth in the second half and beyond.''

blinkx plc is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - as TV and user-generated content on the web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to - and even see - the web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London.

To learn more about blinkx, please visit: www.blinkx.com.

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