Press Release in accordance with CONSOB Regulation No. 11971/1999 and subsequent modifications
FIRST QUARTER RESULTS 2007:
REVENUES AT EURO 35.4 MILLION (+56% compared with Q1 2006)
EBITDA AT EURO 4.7 MILLION (+38% despite strong investments for international growth)
EBIT AT EURO 3.7 MILLION (+54% and equal to a margin of 11%)
NET PROFIT EURO 3.1 MILLION (+83%)
NET FINANCIAL POSITION INCREASED TO EURO 15.2 MILLION AS
AT 31 MARCH 2007 (+29%)
* Consolidated revenues equal to Euro 35.4 million for the first quarter 2007: +56% compared with Q1 2006. Specifically, expotential revenue growth is from international activities which now represent 47% of overall sales compared with 31% in the first quarter 2006 and 40% in the fourth quarter 2006.
* EBITDA increased to Euro 4.7 million (Euro 3.4 million in Q1 2006), despite strong investments made for launching international growth, the benefits of which are already clear given the significant increase in user base in the 23 countries where Dada is present.
* A growth of 54% in EBIT of Euro 3.7 million (Euro 2.4 million in Q1 2006).
* NET Profit equal to Euro 3.1 million, an increase of 83% compared with Q1 2006 and equal to 9% of consolidated sales.
* NET Financial Position as at 31 March 2007 rose to Euro 15.2 million, growing by 29% compared with the value registered 31 December 2006 which was equal to Euro 11.8 million.
Florence, May 11, 2007 - The Board of Directors of DADA (MTAX STAR: DA.MI), chaired by Paolo Barberis, today approved the Dada Group Consolidated Quarterly report as at March 31, 2007.
The continued increased international growth achieved in the first quarter of 2007 confirmed Dada’s leadership in the entertainment products and services market accessible both via the web and mobile through its multimedia community Dada.net, www.Dada.net, positioning itself within the top 250 websites in the world (font: Alexa), with a presence in 23 countries which is growing at a daily rate of approximately 20,000 new paying subscribers, represents one of the most successful cases in the community web 2.0 arena globally.
As a result of the successfully carrying out the localization of the Dada products abroad, it is highlighted that as at 31 March 2007 sales from international activities represented 47% of the consolidated revenues for Dada compared with 31% registered for the same period for the previous reporting. Specifically, the USA, Spain, and Latin America demonstrated to be the highest growth areas in terms of new users and in terms of business volume.
Economic Financial Results
At Group level, the first quarter of 2007 recorded an increase in consolidated sales to Euro 35.4 million (an increase of 56% compared to the same period of the previous reporting) and an increase in consolidated EBITDA to Euro 4.7 million, representing a 38% growth compared with Q1 2006 and with a margin on consolidated sales of 13.3%.
With respect to the margins in the first quarter, it is noted that there was a growth in the registered profit for the Dada Group despite the undertaking of significant investments made for the development of the customer base for the entertainment and community subscription services, the benefits of which are already evident and will continue to increase from the next quarter.
The operating result in the first quarter of 2007 was positive at Euro 3.7 million equal to a margin on revenues of 11%, a growth of 54% compared with Euro 2.4 million of the first quarter of 2006. Amortisation and depreciation had an impact of Euro 1 million on the operating results.
The consolidated NET result was registered positive at Euro 3.1 million, equal to 9% of the consolidated revenue, an increase of 83% on the Euro 1.7 million registered in the same period in 2006.
The short-term Net Financial Position at March 31, 2007 was positive at Euro 15.2 million (Euro 11.8 million at December 31, 2006).
During the first three months of 2007, there was therefore an increase in the NFP of Euro 3.4 million. The performance of these figures was impacted by the two acqusition investments made, that of 30% of E-Box S.r.l., the owners of Nano-publishing platform Blogo, the most visited network of specialised blogs in Italy and the second closing for the acquisition of Cotei in preparation for the purchase of Nominalia S.L., the leading Spanish Internet domain name registrar.
Finally, it was noted that from the 2007 annual reporting period, Dada has reorganised its activities into 3 business units: Dada.net, which made up 72% of sales and includes the Group’s entire end user community and entertainment product and service offering; Dada Adv, making up 17% of the sales revenue and includes the Group’s web, mobile and scalable advertising activities; and finally Dada.Pro, which contributes 11% to consolidated sales and refers to the Internet domain, hosting and eMail activites of the Group.
In comparing the quarters it is noted that the following changes were made in the consolidation calculations: in the first quarter of 2006 the company Planet Com S.p.A. was fully consolidated (sold in July 2006) which contributed Euro 1.7 million to revenues; in the first quarter of 2007 the companies Nominalia SL (acquired in July 2006), Upoc Inc. (acquired in August 2006), Tipic Inc. (acquired in November 2006) and Dada Brazil (operational from December 2006) were fully consolidated with an impact on the quarterly sales revenue of Euro 2.8 million. The changes made for consolidation impacted positively on the revenue by Euro 1.1 million and on the EBITDA by Euro 250 thousand.
The Board of Directors also approved the increase in capital shares of 25,000 shares in order to cover the issuing of the options which were already approved during the board meeting held on February 12, 2007.
